Monday, November 06, 2006

The Win In The Field, Lost On The Podium…

Yesterday, after Australia won the Champions Trophy, something happened during the prize ‘Distribution’ Ceremony that made many people unhappy. Some of the Aussie players nearly pushed BCCI Chief Sharad Pawar away in the heat of celebrations.

After the Interviews, the announcer Rameez Raja forgot to announce the Trophy and Mr. Pawar (who is also a Minister in the Union Govt.) was waiting for it. Australian Captain Rickey Ponting demanded the Trophy from Mr. Pawar. But Pawar responded him by asking him to step forward for the presentation. Ponting was so eager to wrap his hands around the Trophy that once Pawar gave him the Trophy, he and later Damien Martin nudged the BCCI Chief away and joined the Team in Celebrations.

Well, accepted that they are Australians and think of nothing ahead of a victory… Accepted, that this was like a Dream come true for the World Champions as they won the ICC Champions Trophy for the first time. Accepted, that they were too desperate to party…
Accepted, that this was a mistake.

Still, I think this is clearly an irresponsible behaviour and is punishable. Any Sportsperson, especially a team should never forget that they are being watched by thousands of people worldwide. They should not forget that they are Roll-models for many young kids.
Every game follows a code of conduct of some kind or the other. Cricket, the gentlemen’s game, needs a conscientious behaviour to retain its reputation.

I hope ICC takes some action- Oh! Well how can they? They’ll simply say that “Off- Field” things are not in their control or something like that. Pushing the things under the Carpet, that’s what they normally do, isn’t it?

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