Do we lack sportsmanship?
THE euphoria shown by our public for the current series of World Cup 20 being held in Dubai is remarkably exciting.
In view of our deteriorating security conditions, most countries had refused to play cricket on Pakistani soil, with the result that the cricket lovers felt deprived of watching good international cricket.
In this background the people have evinced un-usual interest in the current World Cup series.
About three days before the beginning of this Tournament, almost all TV channels started telecasting special programmes and focused on the prospect of Pakistani cricket team’s performance in the forthcoming series in which all experts of the game and former Test cricketers participated.
I keenly watched these programmes but was disappointed to see that most of these reviews were lopsided or heavily biased in favour of Pakistan.
The commentators showered dithyrambic praise on Pakistan’s past performance while they under-rated most of our international rivals.
There is no doubt that Pakistan’s past performance in international cricket is praise-worthy, and there are many milestones of success to our credit, but that should not mean that our team has become indefatigable and that we do not face any challenge from the present competitors in the field.
The true sportsmanship demands that we must accept our success with humility, and remain steadfast to meet greater challenges in future.
We must remain calm and composed in the face of defeat and failure, which is a part of the game.
We must learn to cope with our failures with grace, and keep making renewed efforts to achieve success in our next encounters.
In the meantime, we must concentrate on our weaknesses so that we may not repeat them in future.
India, of course, is our chief rival which becomes our easy target, more so because of our political differences with her.
But we must not under-rate her past performance in World Cup cricket, and should always treat her as a challenge to reckon with.
The media commentators also scathingly criticized New Zealand for her cancellation of her earlier tour to Pakistan for security reasons, saying that we will avenge our ‘disgrace’ in the on-going championship.
Most things said about NZ’s refusal to play on Pakistani soil and our intention to avenge this ‘insult’ were not in the true spirit of sportsmanship.
First, because New Zealand was not the only team to refuse to play on Pakistan soil for security reasons.
Secondly, that an actual threat to the life of the players had been experienced in the past when such an attempt had been made during a previous tour of Sri Lankan cricket team. Hence the fears of New Zealand were not totally ill-founded.
Even today, our law and order situation is precarious, and our current security condition is not such that we could guarantee full and safe security, on or off the field, to the life of the players of other countries.
Thus scoffing at the New Zealand’s players and their government for their security concerns was not in order, nor in the true spirit of sportsmanship.
It has become our habit as well as that of the media, to use offensively strong adjectives (“like blowing the opponent to smithereens,” or to “roundly trounce the rivals”) to describe the defeat of our contenders even when the match had been even-sided and its fate was decided only in the last couple of balls. Instead of bloating over our achievements, we must display humility in our victory.
Sportsmanship teaches us ‘Fair play’ which instills in us discipline, team work and cooperation. It also cultivates a sense of friendliness and enables us to accept defeat cheerfully.
Discipline must also be maintained in any sport we play, as it controls one’s fancies, impulses and desires. A sportsman must maintain his composure and remain calm at all times.
‘Fair play’ makes us observe the rules of the game and inspires self-confidence, determination and team work to pursue our goal.
Sportsmanship is an aspiration that a sport will be enjoyed for its own sake, based on considerations for fairness, ethics, respect and a sense of fellowship for one’s competitors.
Those who do not take defeat in good spirit are remembered as “sore losers” who lack a sense of sportsmanship, for which winning or losing a game does not matter so much as the quality of sport which is displayed.
A good sportsman can be a ‘good winner’ or a ‘good loser’, but cannot be a ‘bad winner’ or a ‘bad loser.’ A good sportsman will always treat others fairly by maintaining self-control while dealing with others.
The modern sport culture places greater importance on the idea of winning the game by any means which makes the sportsmanship take a secondary consideration.
But in big international events which are covered in graphic detail by the electronic media, sportsmanship again assumes importance leaving no chance for any foul play.
Any departure from rules is likely to result in bitter criticism and public indignation. Thus by a general consensus, the sportsmanship is considered as the best policy because discipline and fair play are the sine qua non of all sports played anywhere in the world.
Sportsmanship is a quality which is as relevant to sports as it is to the human life in general.
It is essential that in all spheres of our life, we should meticulously act in accordance with the spirit of a true sportsman to face all our successes and failures with equanimity and grace.
Being a good sportsman includes treating others as one would like to be treated by others, to cheer the opponents for their good performance and accept responsibility for one’s own mistakes and to remain cool in all circumstances.
—The writer is former member of Provincial Civil Service.
