EDITORIAL : THE DAILY MIRROR, SRILANKA

The politics of a cricket final

A news report said a 30-member government delegation had asked Indian World Cup organizers to set aside VIP seating accommodation for today’s final between Sri Lanka and India. We do not know who these 30 government leaders or officials are. But one thing is certain. Even before the winner of today’s match is known, the politicians in true Sri Lankan style will be sharpening their spurs to ride on the Sri Lankan team.

Some may by now be preparing statements or speeches for gullible audiences in the island while the rest would be rehearsing how best to pose for pictures with the team, just in case India end up on the losing side.
All this will be nothing but an insult to the one exceptional politician the late Gamini Dissanayake who championed the cause of the Sri Lankan team to be elevated to full international recognition or what is commonly called Test status in 1981. Mr. Dissanayake never wanted a piece of anything and this only showed how genuine the man was and to this day remains the favourite public figure of genuine cricketers past and present. In some way it must be a blessing that he is no longer among us to see the rotten state of affairs of a cricketing establishment which must also be banking on a Sri Lankan victory to put the covers over a field of maggots.
The clamour for the best places by government ministers and representatives did not start with Sri Lanka winning the semi final last Tuesday. Unknown to many it began even before the umpires walked out in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka to herald the World Cup with a match between India and the host nation.
Hundreds of tickets had to be made available to ministers and their cheer leaders for all matches in Sri Lanka and this was done by the people who depend on government patronage to survive in a political quagmire which prompted one scribe to remark that all this is possible only in a country like Sri Lanka.
But what is most sickening is the manner in which some of the players of that 1996 World Cup winning team and the wives of other players were being treated at matches by World Cup organizers in Sri Lanka. The heroes who were once hailed by their country became outcasts almost overnight for this is the political climate in Sri Lanka.
We can only caution the present set of players who will march out to contest today’s final, to be aware that the same fate that befell their predecessors might come back to roost on them. Of course we know that in such an environment even the players need the help of politicians to survive in a commercial world where sport is no longer about sport.
But we will not waste a single minute to call on each and every member of the team to do his best today. For although the World Cup is more about money and riches than it is about pride and honour, the common man in the country has only a cricket team to boast of to the outside world. They are the Sri Lankan team’s real heroes who have genuine reasons to celebrate and be proud. When all this is over they will be the ones who have to go back to their plots of land in the village or their roadside kiosks where they will continue to struggle for a living while those who scrounge on their votes have a field day, win or lose.