The cricket world cup win saw smiles on almost every Indian I suppose. It also saw tons of gallons of beers being consumed, state governments spending taxpayers money in gifting houses and cash to the already endorsement rich players and the prime minister flirting with the idea of starting bilateral cricket with our friendly neighbour.
I kept wondering what it meant to Dipu, a football player of a local club in Bengal, or Gurjeet, a hockey aspirant in Amritsar. I am sure they were happy too. I am however unsure about their future.
A world cup victory (and the frenzy that followed) reinforces the fact that as a nation we were, are and will continue to be crazy about cricket. All the brands that put in money for their spots got handsome returns on reach and GRPs. They would in all probability continue to sleep with this sport for some more time to come. All the cricketing clubs would see a spurt in admissions of young cricket aspirants. Famous cricketers will open cricket academies where children will be taught how to hold a bat. Young businessmen would probably now get an approval for their venture to open yet another sports channel named India cricket. Parents of amateur cricketers will see Yuvi’s mom and Pathan’s dad in them and hope that their ward would one day lift the world cup trophy for the nation. The aspirants and their parents are unlikely to divorce cricket anytime soon.
This also means that brands that set aside money for sports branding may put more on cricket. Those who missed out on the world cup bus would like to get on the IPL wagon. This also means that aspiring youths who want to pursue a career in sports which is not cricket should seriously think if their sport will ever win a major tournament in their lifetime. But if we continue tom toming cricket, how will they get the funding and more importantly the encouragement to pursue? Isn’t it not a chicken and a egg situation? Do they shove their aspirations?
An IPL match is seen by 30000 people on an average in a stadium. In March this year there was a football tournament in Kolkata wherein nine premiere Indian football clubs and one Chinese club participated. A good match had on-ground numbers similar to IPL. On equating everything else, sponsors paid a fifth of what they would have paid if it were cricket. Whereas governments have gifted houses and cash to world cup winning cricketers, has someone checked what medalists at Asian games and Olympics get?
My question to those who put their money and time on supporting cricket is, “If you could wait for 28 years to get back the cup, don’t other sports deserve a chance?”
Else Gurjeet and Dipu’s aspirations will die.
