Growing up, it used to be a treat to watch a cricket series or a football game live on television. One would stay up or wake up to watch a one day game in New Zealand or a European Cup Winners Cup Final. Sometimes, there was no notice and one would stumble upon, say, a tennis match coming live on a French channel. These instances, being few and far between, became special and are still present in the memory vault.

With the growth of cable television in India and the evolving of commercial structures in sport, the early nineties onwards saw a sudden rise in the broadcast of international live sport. Cricket, football, golf, tennis, basketball, Formula One, even baseball and poker, all started getting beamed into our drawing rooms. And one is not referring to weak and fledgling leagues. We are referring to World Cups, the NBA, UEFA Champions League etc – all top notch sport across various channels, right there, whenever we want it.

What this meant is that we got very spoilt very fast. Everyone was suddenly an authority on various nuances of sport. While this was very well for television companies, advertisers and the different competitions, it affected us Indians in two ways. One, having got used to seeing only top level of sport, no one was interested in going to see or support any sport at a lower level – state, nationals, Ranji trophy etc. Everyone wanted to see Jaspal Rana score 595 out of 600 at a World Championship but wasn’t interested in buying a Rs 200 ticket to enter a stadium to watch the nationals. So, we essentially became consumers but didn’t really love any game/ sport. It was almost like one needed another topic for drawing room conversation.

The other adverse effect was that Indians didn’t feel the need to play or exercise themselves. They’ll watch all the top sport in the world but can’t go for a run or play anything. The thought process is almost as perverse as “I watch sport so I am contributing to India in being a sporting nation”. That is why we will never be a sporting people. Indians will always behave holier than thou. Remember Suresh Kalmadi calling the CEO of the Commonwealth Games Federation”useless”?

So much quality sport at the fingertips of the opinionated Indian has not stood him in good stead. Let’s hope the Commonwealth Games, as any big games should, will look to build legacy, if not in the mind of Indians, but at least Delhi-ites… Ya, right!

Written by: Kartikeya Rao

Image: Reuters Photographer / Reuters

        

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