COMMERCIALIZATION

With the Indian team waiting for the one day finals to play in Australia

Whatever be the result of the game but after returning to home ,the people will see players in a new avatar, that is their endorsement packages will increase and we will see them encashing their popularity through commercial-ads ,inaugurations , interviews or might be judging the various contests.

The article is written on the account of the reality seen in the history of Indian cricket and how this cricket is emerging as a means of commercialization.

COMMERCIALIZATION

Giving our best short ,pouring in your heart and soul into the game, playing selflessly and striving to be the best-that is the essence of sportsmanship.Alas!that is now only a flickering fame –being blown hard by the tornado of COMMERSIALIZATION.
Sports, today have been reduced to nothing more than ugly business –it has been pulled into the mire of betting, match fixing and duping .The significance of sports has been drowned in the sea of the materialistic world. Nobody bothers about the virtues that it was associated with .It is no longer sacred for anybody .Dedication, discipline and loyalty are the words which are aliens to sports .In the modern world of professional sports,

“what was unusual, has become common place and what was exceptional has become the norm” So What?, feel the players .So far as the game goes on, who cares whether it is a fair or the foul one? So far it entertains what if the players have become co-operators? It is this attitude which is most distressing.

These days the players sell anything and everything from shoes to drinks to cars .They do not hesitate to sell even their autographs. So what if they sell their country?
Greed, the oldest of vises, has killed the ethics, the culture and the responsibility which they carry as custodians of people’s hopes and as representatives of their country. Not only that, they have completely erased the element of trust from the hearts of their well wishers.

Players are ranked, not just by batting average or strike out, but by their average annual salary. What is worse is that the commercial side of the games has changed dramatically with character, in the last two decades. The business of the sports was once conducted backstage. Earlier, the people making money were embarrassed to let the public know their dirty little secret .Presently, this business is conducted shamelessly and later they do not hesitate to admit that the lure of money overpowered their spirit of sportsmanship.

The dark clouds have taken a firmer grip over the games. They have eclipsed the true spirit of the sportsmanship. Now it is not the caliber of the players but the command of the bookies which decides the outcome of the match. The players can exploit their talent elsewhere-after all, they have dinner to attend, inauguration to make, new showrooms to open, beauty contest to judge and cola adds to do ,which fetch them staggering amounts of money. And that is their aim and ultimate goal.

Thanking You
Ruchi Ahuja