Sir Garfield Sobers is my sports idol, not only for his cricketing abilities but also for his sportsmanship. He was an immensely talented player but I think I started worshipping him after I read about an incident that happened while he was playing for his county Nottinghamshire. A catch was claimed by his opponents but the umpire ruled in Sobers’ favour much to the consternation of the fielding team. But Sobers walked up to the fielder and asked him whether he took the catch cleanly and when the fielder answered in the affirmative, Sobers walked back to the pavilion!!  

Compare this with what happened in the infamous Sydney test of the recently concluded series against Australia! Catches were not only claimed but were also “confirmed” by the captain when questioned. He himself appealed for a catch when he had clearly grounded the ball three feet in front of his eyes and then went on to act at his sanctimonious best in a press conference. Does winning matter so much? To the extent of selling one’s soul to the devil! Or is it the dictates of money that drives one to be dishonest as in every thing else?! Why should sports be any different?

In the 1987 cricket world cup, Walsh displayed incredible sportsmanship when he chose not to run out Qadir at the bowler's end when it was well within his rights to do so. It was such a crucial game for the West Indies because defeat would mean elimination from the tournament and that run out would have given the windies the match. But refraining from doing such an unsportsmanship act even at such a crucial juncture was the most magnificent gesture in international sports, in my opinion. More than the special award given to him at the end of the tournament, the standing applause he received from the opposition when he walked on to the field for the last time, brought tears to my eyes. Even the umpires joined in the guard of honour to this great ambassador of sports. When such glory awaits honesty, why seek dishonest means to achieve success beats me.

A strange ritual can be witnessed in soccer even today. If a player is injured and the referee has not seen it, the ball will be kicked out of play so that the game can be stopped and the player attended to. But when the game resumes, the side which kicked the ball out of play will be conceded possession of the ball voluntarily by the opposition. A lovely gesture in an otherwise rough game of “professional" fouls and dangerous tackles.

The basket ball games of NBA are played with such intensity and aggression but when Miller, one of the legends of the modern game retired, he received such a thunderous applause at the end of his last game because he was always known as the "nice guy". He was chaired, not by his Indiana team-mates but the opponents. In fact Detroit's coach couldn't wait for the bugle signalling the end of the game as he ran to Miller and hugged him. There was not a dry eye in the audience as the great man bowed out of the arena for the last time. Even Jordan didn't get such ovation. All because Miller was such a "sport"!

In tennis too, I love to see the victor jumping over the net to go to the other side and hug the vanquished and  exchange warm words of appreciation of each other’s game. It takes guts, courage and hell of a lot of grace to applaud one’s opponent. I will never forget the sight of Bishen Bedi applauding Keith Fletcher after the latter hit one of the biggest sixes I’ve seen in Chepauk. It was so nice to see the entire South African team congratulating Sehwag after his triple century in the Chennai test. Who can forget Viswanath’s gesture in recalling Taylor after he was given out by the umpire?! That the incident was the turning point of the test and how Botham mauled us badly later on as England were the runaway winners of the Golden Jubilee test would not be remembered as much Vishy’s gesture!! Reid, a Kiwi skipper once waved the drinks away so that India would have more time to chase the victory target! Sounds like a fairy tale isn’t it? Once I saw Vijay Amritraj conceding a point to the opponent after the line-judge called in Vijay’s favour. He won the fair-play award in Wimbledon in that year.     

Sports and games were designed as outlets for pent up aggression and energies. Originally thought of by the scholars of the city-states of Greece, these games were said to have been intensely competitive where the participants expended their energies in bettering their opponents. Thus was born the motto of Olympic Games –“Altius, Citius, Fortius” But unfortunately, the games themselves have become battle-fields. In fact, the all-blacks Kiwi rugby team enact a Maori war ritual called “haka” before every game. Abusive language, rude gestures and fisticuffs have reduced sports to rough-house brawls leaving the spectator with a bad taste in the mouth. Worse is when the spectators themselves form groups and fight among themselves. How often we hear of riot-police being called in to break the brawl and spectators getting killed in needless violence!

We have heard dignitaries giving speeches before the start of a game often quoting the famous adage "what matters is not the winning but the participation"! Sadly, this has become a thing of the past, buried by commercial considerations and petty politics? An old wives’ tale, if you please. Incidents illustrating sportsmanship in the modern era are as rare as hen's teeth. “Winner takes it all” is the motto now and what do we do with those who don’t toe this line? Torch’em, of course.