Sports as an avenue for employment
Few Indians have paid attention to it, but organising games and building affiliated infra can generate big bucks and employment
On my first visit to England in 1961, I learnt that Sir Stanley Mathews had retired after playing for several years as a right-back for his club. When young and fully fit, he played in the European Cup but could not participate in the Olympic Games, on the grounds of his being a professional and not an amateur. Cricket, too, discriminated against its professionals. They were always referred to by their first names. Fast bowler Harold Larwood, famous or infamous for the Bodyline series of 1932-33, was a professional. His captain, the irascible Jardine who would enter the pavilion through the gentleman’s gate, was an amateur. While Jardine was called DR Jardine, Larwood was simply called Harold Larwood.
For years, sport was looked upon as the pastime of gentlemen who had the means and leisure for it. Sons of groundsmen were recruited by the team or its club to fill empty caps in a team and clubs would pay them for the duration they played. They were called merely players, not gentlemen. Things improved gradually though it took decades for real change. It is necessary to recognise mainstream sports as an industry, as well as the activity that goes into the building of the infrastructure. This would ensure money coming into the promotion of sports.
It is sadly surprising that a large country like India hasn’t yet fully woken up to the fact that sports are much more than field games. Jagmohan Dalmia of Kolkata could well have been the first entrepreneur to realise cricket’s potential. It was under his leadership of the Cricket Association of Bengal that the Eden Gardens stadium was developed to its current dimension. He raised funds and spent these judiciously. It was Dalmia who empowered the CAB to enable so many youngsters to come up and play cricket, including for India. Further, he obtained for Indian cricket a seat on the high table of the International Cricket Council. This is not a eulogy but recognition of how someone spotted the potential of cricket and substantially exploited it to the benefit of so many Indians.
Except for this period of time, no one in India appeared to realise that the game is not only for the fitness and pleasure of players but also a panorama for the entertainment of millions of Indians, like cinema is; except that films began as an arena of performance by comparatively few actors, paid for by one, two or three producers for thousands to watch and enjoy for a little money, whereas cricket began as a source of amusement for a few at their own cost on public or acquired land. That non-players began to watch some games was incidental, to begin with, free of charge and in due course with the help of a little payment.
An underdeveloped society should look upon cricket or any sport of mass attraction as an industry. To engage, employ and emolliate lots of people; to play, to coach, to umpire, to build and service the large stadia, to manufacturing of sports equipment. There would be innumerable avenues of employment as well as earning money. For a country like ours, football, rugby, hockey, kabaddi and many other games could help expand the sports industry. It should grow into one of the top economic activities, besides improving the health and character of the youth. Before Dalmia, no one appeared to have imagined the enormity of the potential of the ball, bat and stumps.
Odisha’s State Government has adopted a national hockey team, which is a commendable gesture. Other States should think of football, at one time Bengal’s most favourite sport. It began as a virtually cost-free game with no boots and hoses to wear. Even hockey was, at one time, played more barefoot than with boots. In the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, Adolf Hitler wanted Germany’s hockey team to win the gold medal. The country’s national association backed by the Government had left no stone unturned to ensure their team’s victory. Hitler himself was present in the stadium when the final was played.
India’s trump card was the legendary Dhyan Chand but at half-time, we were leading by only one-nil which was a wafer-thin margin. Maharajah Sayaji Rao of Baroda was also watching from the stands. As soon as half time was sounded, the Maharajah rushed to the dressing room to advise Dhyan Chand to discard his boots and switch to barefoot play. He became a different centre forward and scored a total of three goals, and India finished the match with a 5-1 win!
After the 1948 Olympics at London, international rules were changed; for football and hockey, wearing boots became compulsory. Barefoot play became a thing of the past and the games ceased to be artistic and turned more technical. Rules will come and go; change will continue to be the law of life. But sports should grow till it becomes the number one employer of the country. We have many States and Union Territories, there are also many games. Let us begin with every State and UT adopting one sport. Before long, India should become a leading light in the Olympics and employer number one at home.
(The writer is a well-known columnist, an author and a former member of the Rajya Sabha. The views expressed are personal.)
Source: The Pioneer
