Farooq Siddique: Fans played into racists's hands
In cricketing terms alone, it's turning out to be an enthralling tournament.
On Sunday, England dumped the start-studded, reigning world Champions India, out of the tournament. An extraordinary achievement, considering that India are an exceptional side.
Why am I mentioning all this?
Well, I'm setting the scene. After the match on Sunday, England captain Paul Collingwood said in a rather revealing press conference; "Obviously there were a lot of Indian fans here today and we got booed by them….It's a bit strange, to be honest, at the home of cricket (Lord's) on your home ground. And it gave everyone the motivation to go out and put a party piece on."
Of course, let's keep things in perspective, all supporters of opposition teams, are almost bound to boo the opposition!
But, this is the England team, playing in England, playing at Lord's, the "Home of Cricket".
And they were booed?
I understand the obvious frustration of the England team in the comments that Collingwood expressed; especially when everyone knows the unsaid, but obvious fact that the vast majority of the Indian fans that were booing, actually lived in this country.
Supporting a team other than England is not an issue, but in my view, in this context, booing the England team was out of order.
Compare this to the previous week, when England played Pakistan.
The same Paul Collingwood, described the excellent atmosphere in the crowd; "especially when we (England) started winning".
He was referring to when the Pakistan fans began cheering England.
It truly was a remarkable atmosphere, where both sets of fans were enjoying the occasion.
I remember while growing up in Bristol, there was something that became known as "Norman Tebbit's cricket test" – named after the Tory MP, who proposed that one could judge a person's loyalty to this country by seeing which cricket team they supported.
My response was always a simple one: when England played Pakistan, I was privileged; I supported whoever won!
Sometimes it would come down to me supporting whichever of the teams played better or sometimes, something as simple as me supporting which ever team was less arrogant!
At no time whatsoever, did I ever think that by supporting one team over another, I was in any way being more or less loyal to either Pakistan or England!
Norman's theory was, of course, nonsense. But, I would hazard a guess, that Norman was a keen cricket fan, who became understandably upset after having witnessed an incident like the one on Sunday.
I do think that the Indian fans were wrong to boo England.
Ordinarily perhaps it would not have warranted any attention.
But the simple fact is that we are living in exceptionally sensitive times, where the right-wing is gaining ground.
The incident is gift horse for those who seek to divide us.
Perhaps, I am making too much out of the incident.
Nevertheless, all of us, Pakistani or Indian, black or white, yellow or brown, or whatever colour or creeds; we all need to be much, much smarter than this.
Read Farooq Siddique's weekly column in the Evening Post every Tuesday.
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