Cricket fans and spectators – A lesson from the Football World
‘Cricket lovely cricket we play in Sri Lanka’…..the English song or ‘Thana nilla dige edila yanawa’ the Saman De Silva creation enjoyed by millions of Sri Lankan cricket fans all over the world is not to be heard of these days.
What is heard or seen today is pathetic. The fans shouting slogans in the grounds or voice cuts, articles in the media against their poor performance. One could say it is their feeling for their beloved sport. Of course cricket is the only game which has taken Sri Lanka to the world, other than billiards. The outcry is justified but we have to have the game going to keep up the lion flag, so if you really love the game do not destroy the morale of the players but bring them back to their lost glory.
Learn from Brazilian Football fans. The 90 million people treat it as a religion, the world over billions of fan for their samba type of football and who have been five times world champions. Yet they conceded an unbelievable 0-7 defeat to Germany in the 2010 FIFA World Cup to the disbelief of world football fans. But Brazilian football fans stood by them. They cried, but never hooted or shouted slogans against the team but consoled them and was with them at their defeat. The team came back to lost glory and even for FIFA 2018 they lead the points table in the Latin American confederation.
South Korea had to face the defending champions France in the FIFA World Cup in 2006 in Berlin. I was the media officer. The crowd was nearly 80,000 and there were nearly 10,000 strong Korean fans. They started their Drumming and one voiced slogan Go Korea…go Korea, right before the kick off. France had two World super stars in Zedane and Henry. France scored the first goal very early. The Koreans accelerated the cheer and kept the team which was playing well. The morale was high and they drew the game 1-1. French fans were upset but supported their team in order to keep the team’s morale high and France went on to become runners-up losing only to Italy on penalties.
TIME TO CHANGE THE CHEERING CULTURE
We Sri Lankan fans should realise that the team cannot win everyday or every series. All teams are undergoing a transition period. Except cricket but the crisis should be managed by SLC. The inexperienced players should be encourage at the grounds to boost their morales up. The players when they feel that the fans are not in favour, they trends to carry a burden, over stressed and their performances go down badly. The fans should keep cheering them on even at their defeat and non performing times too, to show them that the country is with them .Then the players feel more comfortable and play their normal game to get better results. We should create a simple yet powerful slogan for Sri Lankan Cheering squads to support in one voice. [Example Koreans cheer with Go Korea…go Korea..] with their drums during a game boosting the morals of the players. It is very simple yet creates a strong national feeling. Do not forget the cricket economy. Cricketers bring in millions of dollars by TV Air time and if we continue to lose we will not have a healthy outlook for cricket.
So real cricket fans should be there when the Sri Lanka team performs everywhere in our country. Be with them during this time of crisis, show them that we are Sri Lankans and you are all ours.. Fans let’s believe in them Be there in the thousands.. Cheer them.. Come on Sri Lankan Fans... Come on Sri Lanka we can do it Boys! Rukmal Perera (The writer is a FIFA Community Instructor and a FIFA and AFC Media Official who has worked with over 25 of the world’s best football teams including Brazil, Argentina, Germany and France. He has travelled to more than 25 world sports destinations.)