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Religion and politics

By Will last year, mid-March Leave a comment on this post

“You wouldn’t normally associate cricket with Catholics,” he said after a training session at the Aga Khan ground this week. “It’s more a protestant sport in Northern Ireland. There were always British army troops based in Northern Ireland and Strabane and, perhaps, they would’ve brought it with them. But it’s always had an affection with the locals and it’s been played by all traditions in Strabane.”

That’s what Peter Gillespie, the Ireland allrounder, told me in Nairobi in February. So it was interesting to read this post from an Ireland blogger about his country beating Pakistan and what ramifications it might have.

To a Pakistani, Ireland beating their national team must be a bit like San Marino beating Brazil in soccer. Our national soccer coach was nearly flayed alive (metaphorically) by soccer pundits for nearly drawing against San Marino a few months ago, so I can only imagine what the depth of feeling was in Pakistan when the result came through. That said, our soccer team manager is still alive.. The death of Bob Woolmer in some way underlies the personal emotional turmoil involved when a good team struggles at the top grade.

For Ireland, to have such a success in such an unexpected sport can only be a good thing. It’s quite likely we have a wealth of cricketing talent in the country, as one of our more popular games - hurling - demands very similar skills to cricket. Also, we are beginning to see an easing of the unwritten laws that divided many sports into “Protestant” and “Catholic” games. Such a de-politicisation of sport is very welcome.

“Cricket helped me see the world,” Gillespie said, “but it also helped me see a new outlook - especially growing through a lot of turmoil in Northern Ireland and our town. Cricket was a get-out clause. I was able to get to know all types of different people, backgrounds and religions and it helped me broaden my outlook in general.”

Can cricket, or sport, really depoliticise communities or countries? Recent history has shown cricket, more than most other sports, acts as a victim of politics (last World Cup; Eng/Zim). When has it been the damp cloth, dousing political hot fires? Sorry for the metaphor.

Pakistan and India are a case in point: very nearly at war with one another off the pitch, and definitely in battle when they play cricket. Anyway, just some thoughts. Up the Irish, and all that.

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3 Responses to “Religion and politics”

  • Zainub wrote:
    March 21st, 2007 at 9.15 am

    Can sport de-politicize communities? To an extent, yes.

    In Pakistan, tennis isn’t that big a sport, but when one of our top players (we only have about two top players in total, if I’m not wrong) teamed up with an Israeli (a country Pakistan still doesn’t recognize) for a doubles tournament (can’t remember which one it was), it was reported widely in all the press, and just reported, not criticized. So I guess that could be one example of sport de-politicizing communities.

    In cricket, we’ve seen time and again how the India-Pakistan matches bring together the people, the 04-05 series was one of the best example, there were countless touching stories of how Indian fans traveling from across the border reported that they felt like at home, in fact, I’d strongly advise every cricket fan to read Rahul Bhattacharya’s Pundits from Pakistan on that subject. Its the best cricket book one can ever hope to read.

    But I would still stand by what I said earlier, that all this happens to “an extent”. At the community level in other words. In the political lingo I suppose this is called increased people to people contact (increased mutual good will could be another phrase I suppose). To hope that sports could bring governments together would be a bit too optimistic. Naive even some may say.

  • Tom wrote:
    March 22nd, 2007 at 1.40 am

    Politics and religion go hand in hand, while sport and politics are never far away from each other. However cricket can have a soothing effect on tensions, as Zainub pointed out with India-Pakistan a few years ago.

    The diversity of religious backgrounds over cricket covers all the major religions, (Christianity, Islam, Hindu, Buddhism) and yet little tension has emerged. In a sport such as soccer (football), ethnic and religiously motivated violence is never far away.

    Might have something to do with the fact that cricket will probably never be as passionate as soccer is, but when you see the results of said passion, why would you want it to?

  • Angus wrote:
    March 22nd, 2007 at 1.58 am

    Pakistan playing India stopped the two countries going to war. When President Musharraf turned up at the game, it was a massive symbol of unity, which defused border tension. And yet, according to the Estonian cricket captain, when you get Pakistan versus India at club level in Finland, it’s World War 3.

    I found relations between Serbia and Croatia particularly fascinating in regards to cricket. Some players swore they’d never let the other team play in their country, or the game would never finish. They said they’d never allow the other country’s flag to fly in their country, even at the request of the ECC. Other players said it was their dream to play. Relations were particularly tense, because one team consisted almost entirely of soldiers - soldiers who were raised in a different continent, and yet maintained their nationalism.

    I hope one day, in the near future, the two countries will get the chance to play, and it will build bridges. Cricket is one of those games that can do that.


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