- Last week, two Nepali national footballers — Anil Ojha and Shiva Shrestha — were suspended from their teams after behaving improperly with teammates. Both of them were drunk too to control themselves immediately after the second international match against Bhutan in Pokhara. Their behavior spoilt the victory celebrations.
- A few weeks ago, an up-and-coming cricketer Pradeep Airee was involved in an ugly brawl that left him with a bandaged head for a match in the MG Trophy in Birgunj. He was drunk and began the fight with his fans who were waiting to meet the cricket star late at night less than 12 hours before the match.
These are only representative examples of the behavior that some of our sportsmen demonstrate. Sadly, many such events aren’t reported; some of them are reported but the players go unpunished and no sports association provides orientation to the players for good social and moral public behaviors.
It’s not uncommon to find national players roaming around in discos late at night even when they are in closed-camp trainings or playing tournaments. Some of them get drunk too.
I understand that after all, players are also human beings and have the right to live their lives as they want to. They are free to do whatsoever they want to while remaining within the confines of the law, but what they should also understand is that they are not ordinary people; rather they are people with star status and many youngsters and chidren look up to them as their idol. Because of their talents and skills, they achieve a status and it becomes their responsibility to remain within a boundary of decency.
‘What has the country given to me?’ I have heard many a sport stars asking. Absolutely true is the fact that compared to their counterparts in other countries, they might have received nothing monetarily. But the coverage they get in newspapers and magazines and the love and respect from supporters and fans in a jampacked stadiums are no less compared to in other countries.
If thousands of people recognize players by their names or faces; if thousands of people stand up and applaud for their good performance; if thousands of people talk about their talents and if thousands of youngsters and children go to bed every day dreaming to become someone like them in the future, don’t they need to give something in return for the respect, love and praise? And, all that people want from the sportspersons is good performance on the field and decency off the field.
I request all the players, when they play next match, to take a few minutes to look around at the stadium and think about the fans.
It hurts every sports fan while reading news like that of Ojha and Shrestha in newspapers. The most heard comment on such news is an ugly one relating to the inability of the players to cope with their star status. So, on behalf of all sports fans, I humbly request the players, of all sports, to bear in mind that they are not ordinary people but a special few so they should decent behavior in public.
Drinking is okay, but excessive drinking brings no respect; going to disco late at night might be ok, but when you are playing tournaments then indulgence in such things is disrespect to sports and the love and respect of your fans.
The sports associations also need to be proactive, and also reactive, to ensure decent behaviors by players. Orientation to players is something new but desirable. To educate players on acceptable and unacceptable behaviors lessens such ugly events.
Also it’s extremely necessary for the sports association to take stern actions against those who make mistakes. Ojha and Shrestha publicly apologized for their behavior — that’s of course a desirable and smart step; but that should not be a reason for not punishing them. If a footballer kicks his opponent, then apologizes and if the opponent accepts the apology, does that mean the referee should not show a card? Similarly, sports associations should assume the role of referee.
In case of Airee, I don’t know if the event had been reported to the Cricket Association of Nepal, but at least one executive member knows about it and that’s enough to sternly warn the player for his indecent behavior.
Indecent behavior is simply unacceptable and the players should fully understand that any such behavior could be fatal to their career and star status; and sports association should try to deliver this message to players.
