Like any other world, the world of
sports, too, has its own heroes and villains. And the heroes and villains in the
world of sports do what the heroes and villains of other worlds do. They are
expected to perform in accordance to their conventional behavior. The heroes,
therefore, overcome obstacles; fight for honor; keep hopes alive; and, win the
right way. The villains, on the other hand, employ deceitful methods for
victory; cheat; dash expectations; and, above all, betray the very game they
play. On May 16, the world of sports was shaken by two huge revelations. One
was about a hero announcing his retirement and the other was about a villain caught
tarnishing the reputation of sports.
David Beckham and Sreesanth are
two different individuals, with sports as the only common thread joining them. But
even here, the two are vastly dissimilar because of the games they play. While
Beckham is a world famous footballer, Sreesanth is a cricketer who is now been
accused of spot-fixing in IPL. As Beckham ended his magnificent career on May 18,
the fate of Sreesanth (and those arrested with him) is yet to be seen.
Beckham (the hero) is a man whose contribution
to English football is immense. He may not be having an enviable goal-scoring
record or any Ballon d’Or to his credit but Beckham is one of the principal
reasons behind the rise of football fans the world over. He is the poster boy
of the beautiful game and has been so for years now. Throughout Beckham’s
illustrious career no one has ever raised a finger on his integrity as a
footballer. He may have sometimes faced scathing criticisms for his form but his
devotion to whichever team he has played with stands unquestionable to this
day. He has had his own highs
and lows in his career but the highs are so high that the lows just fade
away.
Such was Beckham’s fame that his
mere arrival with a particular club boosted its popularity like never before.
For instance Real Madrid already had a strong fan following in East Asia but
their tour in 2003 with Beckham was a financial windfall for the Spanish club. Every
club he has played for in his career has financially benefitted because of his
presence, including Paris Saint Germain (PSG) – his last club. One cannot help
but wonder in amazement at the charisma this English footballer carried all
throughout the 22 years of his professional career.
Some football fans are of the
opinion that David Beckham was not as magical on the field as he was off it. I
cannot argue with hardcore football fans but experts agree that Beckham’s long
pass – the 50 yard shot – stands unmatched in execution to date at least in
English football. Beckham is also the only English footballer to have won the
league cups of four countries having won the Premier League title six times for
Manchester United in England, the La Liga once for Real Madrid in Spain, MLS
cup twice for LA Galaxy in USA and Ligue 1 for PSG in France. Besides this he
also has a Spanish Super Cup and the Champions League title under his belt. To
top it all, Beckham won the last
match of his career, for which he was made the honorary captain by his club.
The name of David Beckham is also synonymous
with the world of fashion and glamour. His face sells a wide array of products,
usually high-end fashion accessories. Such is his fame that in February 2012 the
bodyguards of Xi Jinping, who was in line to become the next Chinese President,
left the leader unguarded to grab an autograph of the footballer at a meeting held
between the two.
He is one of the richest
sportspersons on earth and undoubtedly one of the most influential, too, but
his humility makes him appealing to all classes. Unlike many other footballers,
Beckham is the perfect example of a devoted family man. Of course, a few
doubts on his character have been raised in the past but David Beckham has
braved all of them and stands tall with dignity. Anyone with some knowledge
about the world of football should be aware of the numerous distractions that
threaten the career of an otherwise splendid player. David did not succumb to those Goliaths.
He is a brand worth millions of
dollars; is a doting husband and an ideal father to four children; is a devoted
countryman (it was he who secured the 2012 Olympics for London), and has always
behaved in a manner Englishmen should be proud of. He is the gallant knight in
shining armor for football clubs because of his crowd pulling abilities, and
the ideal icon for millions of sportsmen and common people because of the
unusual modesty which he continues to display. He is the hero who has given
back more to the game he played than the game to him.
Thousands of miles away in India
people are wondering what went wrong with the men they ‘prefer’ to see as gods.
There is no need to revisit the entire Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing
scandal because there is nothing worth ‘discussing’ about it. Such things will
continue as long as India remains a hotbed of corruption. That’s the sad truth!
But this, however, does not mean that ‘gods’ take the gullible devotees for a
ride and start abusing their faith. Unfortunately, Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and
Anket Chavan allegedly did just that.
Almost no one in this country
would have been fully aware of the names of the other two players were it not
for this revelation but Sreesanth was too famous a name not to elicit an expression
of shock. The common cricket fan might wonder what went wrong with Sreesanth. He
had everything going for him. He has played 25 Test matches and 53 ODIs
scalping 87 and 75 wickets, respectively. Not a bad statistics! With
persistence and focus, perhaps Sreesanth could have achieved more but he
squandered away all the chances BCCI, the media and the fans kept on giving
him.
He could have, perhaps, got back
into the national squad and enjoy many more years of play. The BCCI is already
the richest of all cricket bodies in the world and continues to grow richer
each day. The IPL, too, is a cash-cow. The only thing a cricketer needs to do
is to perform well and even Midas would turn in his grave if he sees the wealth
of a successful Indian cricketer. But it is sad to see that instead of working
hard to get it all, Sreesanth lost them by running down the wrong way.
Over the past few days the Indian
media, as usual, has carried out its own trial and blames Sreesanth, Ajit
Chandila and Anket Chavan for everything that is wrong in the game. Today, the
media is calling Sreesanth a “boy
who never grew up”. It is the same media which sang praises for Sreesanth
when he danced around Andre Nel swinging his bat in the air after slamming him
for a six in what is still one of the ugliest displays of arrogance and unsportsmanlike
behavior. Today, the media recalls many of Sreesanth’s similar previous
aggressions calling them “ugly” but back then this very media painted those aggressions
in different colors. The Indian media has a habit of hailing any Indian
cricketer who badmouths or stares down a cricketer of foreign origin as a
champion. It did the same back then, it does the same even now.
This media had sympathized with
him when he was slapped by Harbhajan Singh during the 2008 IPL.
Today, people are talking about that incident in jest calling it Harbahajan
Singh’s foresightedness of things to come. Whether or not Sreesanth is guilty
of the crime he is been accused of, it is beyond doubt that he is one of the
bad boys of Indian cricket whose conduct both on the field and off it has been despicable
to say the least.
A little dignity and humility goes
a long way in furthering a player’s career; no one can deny this simple fact. A
player can have the liberty of acting arrogantly on the field only if he is
exceptionally gifted – someone like Diego Maradona or John McEnroe. A player
with a bad performance record is called a fool if he behaves like an egomaniac
on the field. But he becomes a villain the moment he decides to cheat the game
he plays. He becomes a villain in the eyes of the devoted worshippers of the
game. Unlike the legendary hero who is hailed wherever he goes, the villain is rebuked,
scoffed at; and, relegated to the darkest corners of public memory, forever.
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