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| SPORT TRIBUNE | Saturday, January 8, 2000, Chandigarh, India |
Welcome step by AITA By Ramu Sharma THE appointment of Ramesh Krishnan as non-playing captain of the Indian Davis Cup squad should satisfy all shade of opinion in the tennis fraternity of the country. Ramesh fits the role perfectly. He belongs to a generation just before Leander Paes but is still very much in tune with the modern world of tennis, having spent the transition period with the man who eventually took over from him. Leander Paes owes much to Ramesh Krishnan, having learnt and prospered while playing with the great son of Ramanathan Krishnan, perhaps the greatest of all Indian players. Soccer
leads to ethnic tension Girls
just want to be girls
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Welcome step by AITA THE appointment of Ramesh Krishnan as non-playing captain of the Indian Davis Cup squad should satisfy all shade of opinion in the tennis fraternity of the country. Ramesh fits the role perfectly. He belongs to a generation just before Leander Paes but is still very much in tune with the modern world of tennis, having spent the transition period with the man who eventually took over from him. Leander Paes owes much to Ramesh Krishnan, having learnt and prospered while playing with the great son of Ramanathan Krishnan, perhaps the greatest of all Indian players. The job is tailor made for Ramesh who has earned the respect of the tennis world with his near perfect manners and the quality of his game. He may not be the most articulate of men but that is not needed if the boys play the right sort of game and the country keeps winning. After all Ramanathan Krishnan was never required to speak much. He allowed his racket to do the talking. Of course the presence of Naresh Kumar was of tremendous help to the team during the early days. Apart from being a fine player he was able to deal with the press and other agencies with a rare charm. He was of course a gifted person and well versed in the P.R. field, what with himself being one of the best commentators on the game. He was of course also a brilliant writer on the game. Ramesh has obviously learnt a lot from Naresh Kumar and that should stand him in good stead when he takes on what is one of the biggest jobs of his career. Not that tennis players as such require special handling or need to be guided at every step. Ramesh has a tough job if only because he has stepped into the shoes of a non-playing captain at a time when Indian tennis is going through a difficult phase. The whole Davis Cup team has to be overhauled and a new set of combinations will have to be trained. Leander of course will be there and so will Mahesh Bhupathi but with the latter nursing an injury, the task before Ramesh is onerous. Lebanon, the immediate opponents, may not be much of a problem and India could well afford to blood a couple of young and fresh faces. But what happens when India progresses into the World Group. Ramesh has of course said that it his ambition to ensure that India makes it back into the prime group and he knows what he is talking about. He has played practically with most of the current players and is fully tuned to world tennis as is projected these days. Indian tennis has survived in recent years thanks mainly to the inspired show put up by Leander Paes, who has himself absorbed and learnt much from playing with Ramesh earlier. But things have changed now and there are not many new faces with temperament and potential needed for the big occasion around. Some new faces did surface during the nationals late last year but it will take quite some maturing before these boys make the grade. Ramesh of course can help, drafting some of these younger lot into his own clinic at Chennai. But for the time being he has just Leander Paes and Bhupathi on hand and that is all. Fazuluddin is a youngster with great potential and he can be motivated to produce the goods. India needs at least half a dozen others of equal calibre who can raise to the level required. Ramesh will have to really work hard. The responsibility he has undertaken is not an enviable one. But he is the right choice for the job. The only other man who could have fitted the role as comfortably was Vijay Amrithraj. But he has chosen to stay away. In any case he has given his blessings and that is what counts. Obviously he and R.K. Khanna manage to get along these days and Vijay’s word goes a long way. Vijay of course had suggested the name of his elder brother Anand Amrithraj for the job who in his opinion would have made an ideal non-playing captain with Ramesh Krishnan as coach. But the AITA has temporarily, at least till after the match against Lebanon, done away with the post of a coach. Enrico Piperno, the coach of the team so far, finished his term in December. Anand and Ramesh would have made a good combination as captain and coach. Ramesh is into serious coaching and should have no problems while Anand is a good P.R. man, able to mix well with the media and the public alike. But Indian Davis Cup teams do not generally require P.R. men. The captain can double up as both and Ramesh perhaps must have learnt a lot after seeing Naresh in action. What is important is that he is able to communicate with the players and there is not much he can teach Leander in terms of tennis, the latter having picked up necessary lessons on the circuit. Ramesh’s first task is to build a second string and also, at the same time, find a suitable doubles combination. That will be a difficult task. There does seem to be many players who can team up either with Leander or Mahesh with the same understanding as the two themselves managed to foster. Given his background, his excellent record in Davis Cup and his vast knowledge of modern tennis, Ramesh is sure to come up with the right answers. One forgets that he produces some of most readable copy on world tennis in a leading sports magazine of the country. While welcoming the entry of Ramesh into the Davis Cup net, one is at same time, rather intrigued as to why it was necessary for a replacement at all. Was it necessary for Joydeep Mukherjea to submit his resignation? What were his reasons for giving up a job he was doing well in and for which he was eminently suitable? And why was Enrico Piperno not persuaded to continue? It is rather strange that both the non-playing captain and the coach leave the Davis Cup team almost at the same time. It would appear, if
rumours are to be given any weight, that Leander was not
getting along with his respected senior from Calcutta
while Enrico was having problems with Bhupathi. If true
then the effort should have been to solve the differences
rather than go in for new faces. It is of course rather
unfortunate that things have come to such a pass when
India’s two most famous tennis players of the
present day are unable to get along with Joydeep
Mukherjea, one of the finest players of his era and one
who along with Premjit Lal and Ramanathan Krishnan,
contributed so much to the game. |
Soccer leads to ethnic tension Rising ethnic tension in Mauritius have taken a new toll: football. All soccer competitions in Indian Ocean island state have been halted since last May, because off-pitch violence was getting out of hand. The whistle was finally blown after hooligans damaged Anjalay Stadium, in the north of the island, after a match. They also set fire to 100 hectares of sugarcane field, stoned houses and police stations, damaged buses and other vehicles on the streets before burning down a gambling club in the centre of the capital, Port-Louis.Seven people died in the blaze, including two women and two children. Several others were injured. It was the most serious post-match violence ever seen in Mauritius, but their have been many less serious incidents since the first outbreak of trouble in 1955. ‘‘The biggest blunder came in 1955 when some people organised a football match between two Mauritian teams-one composed of white players and the other of black players,’’recalls Mahmad Elahee, one of the best players and national coaches the island has ever had.‘‘Since then, things have deteriorated on ethnic grounds in the stadiums and on the streets after matches,’’ he adds. The 1.2 million Mauritians are made up Hindus ( 52 per cent), Creoles and Whites (30 per cent), Muslims (17 per cent) and Chinese (1percent). Trouble on the sportsfield, it is generally agreed, stems from the way teams used to be based on ethnicity-the Hindu Cadets, the Muslim Scouts (Elahee’s team in the 1950s), Tamil Cadets, the (White) Dodo Club, the (half-caste) Racing Club and the (Creoles) Fire Brigade. ‘‘When two of these clubs opposed each other, it was as if the members of the communities they belonged to were opposing each other on a battlefield,’’says 53-years-old soccer fan Abedeen Korimbux. Supporters repeatedly took to the streets and staged violent demonstrations. In the last two decades, thousands of buses have been damaged after matches. By 1982 the situation was so bad that the newly-elected government of Prime Minister Sir Anerood Jugnauth took the bull by the horns and banned the use of ethnic names for football clubs. The names changed: the Muslim Scouts became simply scouts, and the word Hindu was removed, leaving Cadets. Clubs opened their doors to players of other religious and ethnic groups. They even paid for foreign players from Madagascar, Tanzania and elsewhere in the region, irrespective of colour, creed or religion. But the problems remained Fans continued to organise themselves on ethnic lines, supporting the clubs they had always backed - even when some of the players were from another ethnic group. Attempts to extend the policy were also stymied by several prominent figures who were worried that they might lose money: ethnically-based teams draw crowds of up to 25,000, compared with 1,500-2,000 for mixed sides. Hooliganism became even more violent Various measures were tried, including the banning of fans for several games at a stretch as punishment for rowdyism. In a 1996 report following an inquiry into soccer hooliganism, Judge Robert Ahnee warned that ‘‘the communal hooliganism already present in our stadiums’’ might explode ‘‘...with the possibility of serious consequences for the whole country.’’ Soccer faced a crisis which might even have ‘‘great consequence for the inter-racial harmony of the country,’’he said-which is exactly what happened three years later. As well as imposing a match moratorium, the government secured approval for a Sports Bill that seeks to regionalise soccer, in the hope of destroying the ethnic basis of teams and thus of supporters as well. Though the regionalisation approach is not new, many people are prepared to give it another try. The idea is that players, whatever their cultural affinity, will be able to appear only in their regional team. But Dr Satish Boolell, manager of the Police Football Club team, says that other measures are needed. ‘‘We cannot use regionalisation to cover out lack of discipline at the level of football administration in Mauritius,’’ he says. Calling for tougher application of laws against hooligans, he also recommends that no club based on ethnic grounds should qualify for registration; high-risk matches be played in the morning under the supervision of foreign referees; severe penalties be imposed for the use of foul or racially abusive language in stadia; and a marketing drive be launched to attract families to games instead of only men. The country’s President, Cassam Uteem, is even clearer about the limits of regionalisation; ‘‘We should not delude ourselves. Regionalisation will not solve the problems of ethnicity and violence which our society is encountering, particularly in sports.’’ He says that a radical
change of mentality is needed in the population as a
whole. — Gemini News |
Girls just want to be girls Girls are boycotting sports lessons, according to research released recently, to avoid messing up their hair and the really serious problem of getting sweaty. A survey by Adidas found that while girls are happy to wear sports clothing, they think sport itself is deeply “unfeminine”. Naomi Campbell, meanwhile, has her own thoughts on what’s feminine. Not for her the ‘disgusting baggy trousers worn by All Saints and the platform shoes favoured by the Spice girls. Her preferred sole mates? “I like feminine heels,” she says. Just when you thought femininity was a concept it was safe to grow out of, like Barbie dolls, it turns out to be what everyone wants to grow into. But the problem remains, no one’s sure what you need to be feminine, apart from deodorant and stilettos. The word comes from the Latin femina, meaning “suckling woman”, which doesn’t shed much light. In the absence of a femininity rulebook, it may be in the eye of the beholder. In the 80s, there were nationwide debates among men as to whether Margaret Thatcher was feminine. Women, of course, knew she was’t. Feminine qualities historically have been soft-spokenness, passivity, modesty. Jane Austen drew the perfect feminine heroine in Mansfield Park’s Fanny Price, who was so modest and unassuming that it is hard for today’s women to relate to her: the latest film of the novel is expected to be far racier in an attempt to appeal to modern audiences. Over the years, the acceptable range of feminine behaviour has relaxed. Femininity today is possible in a mini skirt (though PVC may be pushing it) and women no longer need to stay at home doing needlepoint: we are feminine at work as long as we pour the tea in meetings. While women don’t automatically assume they are feminine, most would like an option on it, despite the fact that femininity suggests weakness while masculinity reeks of strength. As US feminist Susan Brownmiller said: “Femininity in essence is a romantic sentiment, a nostalgic tradition of imposed limitations.” Specifically women don’t want to break out of the femininity prison because we can’t risk being unfeminine. We suspect, you see, that it’s code for unattractive. If femininity is a set of physical characteristics, then they might include long hair (preferably blonde), petiteness (not essential) , a button nose and soft bosom. No underarm or leg hair, thank you. Think Felicity Kendall in the Good life, all little in dungarees with smut on her nose. Think Princess Diana, all doe eyes and submissive tilt of the head. Men will wax lyrical about Claudia Schiffer’s femininity shining through her tatty jeans and sweatshirt. We learn something about femininity from an early age, when little girls are still called tomboys if they climb trees and refuse to wear dresses. The girls at my daughter’s school mostly want long hair and high-heeled boots, stick-on nails and glitter. “Do I look pretty?” they ask. Femininity is always assumed to be a desired state. There is no insult in “ You’re so feminine” whereas there’s a sniff of one in “You’re so macho”. But there is a downside. Cue Mary Archer, the fragrant definition of femininity. Where has being feminine got her? In the USA the National Institute for Child Health and Development is funding a study to see if feminine attributes increase your chance of unplanned pregnancy. The hypothesis is that traditionally feminine girls are less comfortable with their sexuality and may not make good decisions about relationships. It’s just not feminine to insist on condoms. Maybe traditional femininity is more risky for personal happiness and reproductive health. Certainly we would be naive to believe it is simply clothing and hairdos when it’s really about conforming to being a good woman as society demands. Concerns about sport being a good woman as society demands. Concerns about sport being unfeminine, however, are likely to backfire. Along with a sedentary lifestyle come the extra pounds. And those are definitely unfeminine. —By
arrangement with The Guardian |
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