Be a sport, it’s okay to be ‘disloyal’

Iam a sports enthusiast. I watch TV, mainly for sports programmes. Needless to say, if an Indian team, or an Indian sportsman or sportswoman for that matter, is playing, my interest is that much greater. An element of nationalist pride inevitably kicks in. Nothing wrong with that, provided it doesn’t spill over into aggressive jingoism. But I have a confession to make. When Pakistan was playing against England in the recently-concluded two-Test cricket series, I was rooting for Pakistan. I was ecstatic when Pakistan easily won the first Test and downcast when they lost the second. An Indian cheering for Pakistan? Many Indians might think I was being unpatriotic. But I have a sneaking suspicion that quite a few Indians felt like me. I would even go so far as to say that I think a lot of Pakistanis cheer for India, when India plays England or Australia. In an India versus Pakistan match, I would cheer for India, of course, as Pakistanis would for their country. But when Pakistan is playing any other country, I find myself saying, “Come on Pakistan!”

I have often wondered why I feel this way. Perhaps it is the affinity that Indians — at least north Indians — have with Pakistanis. There is probably an element of racism in my sentiments. A ‘coloured’ person usually has empathy for another ‘coloured’ person. Which could be the reason why I am behind Sri Lanka when they play against a “white” team like Australia or England (though the English team has some players of Indian and Pakistani origin, thereby diluting the ‘whiteness’ of the team). What about two ‘coloured’ teams playing against each other, such as Pakistan and Sri Lanka? That’s a little more complex and leaves me ambivalent. In such cases, I tend to go for the underdog.

However, returning to the recent Pakistan versus England cricket series, there were many spectators of Pakistani origin in the stadium. Most of them must have been British citizens. Yet, they were cheering for the Pakistan team. Shouldn’t their loyalties have been with the English team? In fact, this question was taken up seriously by a British Minister, Norman Tebbit, in 1990, almost three decades ago. In an interview with a major paper, he questioned the loyalty of Britishers, who were originally from the Caribbean, or from the Indian sub-continent, but who vociferously supported touring teams from the West Indies or from Pakistan or India, rather than the team of the country they had adopted, namely the UK. This had clearly irked Tebbit who suggested that they were not sufficiently integrated into British society, thereby creating a huge uproar, which reverberates even now.

This later came to be known as the “Tebbit Test”. Which basically meant that if you were truly a British citizen, loyal to the Queen, you should be shouting for the English team, even if their opponents were from your country of origin, that is India, Pakistan, or the Caribbean. The truth of the matter is that today very few of the West Indians, Pakistanis, and Indians, who have become British citizens in this or earlier generations, and who turn up in large numbers at the cricket stadiums, would pass the “Tebbit Test”. Their sporting loyalty is with their country of origin, while their political loyalty is probably with their adopted country, namely the UK. Does that make them less “integrated” with British society? I don’t really think so.

Tebbit actually went further in the newspaper interview. Who are the immigrants worthy of being granted British citizenship, he was asked. His answer: Those whose “fathers or grandfathers” had fought with the Allies during any of the two world wars. There was an emotional logic to his response: If your father or grandfather was willing to lay down his life for another country, you, as his descendant, were deserving of citizenship of that country, even though the bravery was not yours but of your father or grandfather. By that token Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, even Nepalis (don’t forget the gallant Gurkhas), are “worthy” of British citizenship, their countries having contributed massively to the war effort in both world wars. With migration and emigrants so much in the news these days, what Norman Tebbit had to say in 1990 is relevant today. Sports should be able to cross national borders, even improve ties between nations. Sadly, this happens only rarely. Politics often come in the way. When there was Apartheid in South Africa, most nations refused to compete with them on the playing field. Whether this helped end Apartheid is questionable.

Rahul Singh is a former Editor of Khaleej Times

Their sporting loyalty is with their country of origin, while their political loyalty is probably with their adopted country, namely the UK