Special to WSN
CHANDIGARH: The increase in the incidence of spectator violence at Indo-Pak sports encounters in the recent past is alarming.
Any Indo-Pak encounter in any Sport, say cock fighting, is a big crowd puller. And the numbers of incidents of violence at these encounters during the past four years have been growing unnoticed. Though the violence at the Shivaji Stadium in New Delhi during the final of the Asia Cup Hockey Tournament was not of the quantum to cause alarm, but the incidents that took place after the match and the closing ceremony must have come as a warning to Sports administrators of the two countries. The Asia Cup champions Pakistan team and its officials faced a brief but furious stone pelting attack outside the stadium. A few window panes of the bus were smashed and a glass splinter just missed the left eye of Pakistan team manager, Islahuddin Siddigui.
The glass splinter was removed after a minor surgery from the corner of his left eye.
Brief incidents of stone pelting and hurling of papers and other missiles into the Pakistan goal from behind the cage not only hampered the game but left a bitter taste after some good hockey was witnessed during the tournament.
There is no doubt that the incidents at the Shivaji Stadium were in retaliation to what happened at Karachi during one-day international.
But violence on a hockey field in India was an unusual event that must have shaken hockey fans all over the country.
Pakistanis had always been full of praise of Indian crowds, especially the Lucknow crowd, for its Sporting nature.
India had suffered a big defeat during the IX Asian games in Delhi in 1982 but there were no violent eruptions from stands.
On the other hand, there have been incidents of violence on hockey fields in Pakistan. In 1986 when India held Pakistan to a 3-3 draw at Islamabad, the Indian team was greeted with rotten oranges and knows. A couple of them had burst on the bald head of the Indian team doctor, Dr. Cruz before the team could leave the stadium after the game.
At Karachi during the same series when India beat Pakistan, the crowd did not leave the stadium almost until midnight before the Indian team was escorted to its hotel in police vehicles which had thick wire meshing protecting glass panes. The Pakistan team left much after Indians had reached the hotel.
During the Reliance Cup in 1987 the trouble started in India when a Pakistani umpire gave a controversial decision against the home team, the crowd shouted anti-Pakistan slogans. The retaliation came a day later when an Indian umpire, Mr. Ram Babu Gupta, descended from the pavilion to take position in the ground at Faisalabad in Pakistan, There were slogans against India and the umpire which continued almost throughout the match.
There were jubilations, both in India and Pakistan, over the defeats of their respective neighbors and traditional arch rivals in the semifinals of the Reliance World Cup.
The spectator violence got another boost in the last SAF Games in Islamabad. Members of Indian football and volleyball teams claimed that they were not only shabbily treated but were also beaten up during the games.
And the incidents at Karachi crossed all limits to open a new but unending chapter of violence and retaliation. The tendency has to be curbed to improve sports relations between the two nations. The next event is the seventh World Cup in Pakistan in February.
In Delhi the other day, the Pakistanis perhaps wanted to bury the hatchet forever as they came carrying basketfuls of flowers. They threw back flowers expecting the same in retaliation from the crowd. What they got must have disappointed them in general and the ardent peaceful fans of the game in particular.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 9, 1990
