IPL - Is it the trigger for hooliganism in India

The Indian Premier league got off to a dream start. It was perhaps the best inauguration events the cricketing world had ever witnessed. And the fireworks for the event were provided from Brandon Mc Cullum’s bat, as he blasted off sixes to all parts of the ground.

With the perfect start, cricket crazy fans, and the opulent clubs, the question arises. Will IPL lead to hooliganism?

Hooliganism is not a new concept for the Indian cricket fans. Its signs were first seen in 1967 at a Calcutta Test match. In the last two cricket world cups 2003 and 2007 we witnessed fans routing the player’s homes and burning their effigies. Stone-throwing, bottle-throwing, acts of vandalism are the ways of reaction put up by us, Indians on the verge of defeat. But all, this are the superficial levels of hooliganism and that too at the test and one-day level of cricket. It is no where near to the violence and havoc displayed by the English Premier league fans. Unlike EPL, the one day games (8 hrs) and the test matches curtail the amount of people viewing the sport.

The timings of the IPL (three hours of play), the opulent clubs and players from various countries are so much similar to the EPL. But twenty-twenty being a new format of the cricket game has mixed reactions from the audience. There is a bifurcation in the feelings of the people, some feel that it is less cricket and more of an entertainment, and others feel that it is modern day cricket. And as for IPL, part of the audience has come to watch Shah Rukh Khan, part of the audience to be a part of the hype, and the rest to watch the sport.

Only time can tell how well we can relate to both the twenty-twenty format and the IPL teams. The day one feels that he is an integral part of the his/her home team, that is the day that the first steps of hooliganism shall rise. And India being a home for a vast number of software professionals can further instigate hooliganism. (Most of the hooligans in the EPL are software professionals, who for a change from their boring work opt hooliganism)

And as I write this blog, the team on whom I laid the bet on has already registered 2 wins in 2 games. Hurray! Chennai Super kings.