This makes us feel a bit sick. This is the worst cricket news we can remember.The post-mortem on Bob Woolmer's body has shown that he was strangled. The police believe that he may have known his killer or killers as he had let them into his hotel room. They also believe that it may have taken more than one person as Bob was a big man.
Our very first thought on hearing that Bob Woolmer had died was that it was murder. It came so soon after Pakistan had been knocked out of the World Cup that it didn't seem like coincidence. Then, immediately after that, a more rational part of our brain kicked in. It said: 'No matter what's at stake, that's unheard of - you're being ridiculous'.
But we weren't being ridiculous. That's what's happened. Whether it proves to be gambling-related, demented fanaticism or tied up in some power struggle that we can't begin to understand, this is horrific news for Bob's family. It is totally, utterly beyond comprehension and cricket will be in a state for decades.
We feel like closing down this site. How can you write about a sport where this can happen?
What a sad, sad indictment on the game.
ReplyDeleteI was an avid cricket fan as a child. I moved to the US many years ago and didn't have the opportunity to follow the game as easily. I still remember, though, finding an Aussie pub in New York that showed live games. I dragged my then-girlfriend to watch a game at some obscure hour. The pub was packed. Someone from "my" team got out after having scored a fighting century, and everyone in the pub - and I mean everyone, even the most raucous supporters of the opposing team - put down their mugs and stood up to applaud for nearly a minute, even in their inebriated state. I remember having a lump in my throat. This was the game I grew up with. It had class and dignity in a way that baseball or (American) football or (ice) hockey would never have.
Now that I'm back in Asia, I've been looking forward to watching my first live matches in years. But now this. It's repulsive. I wish they'd scrap the World Cup and just admit that the game is dead.
I was devastated when I saw the news that Bob Woolmer had passed away.
ReplyDeleteI am incredulous now!
How could someone take the life of another human being over a game.
I am passionate about cricket, more so than most other things in life (much to the disdain of my beloved), but the thought of harming someone over it, is beyond belief.
Aside from that, how will the PCB now find a replacement for a great man? Who in their right mind would want to take a job, where murder seems to be the cricket equivalent of "you're fired".
The darkest days of cricket have returned, to a tournament that was supposed to show the world, how much enjoyment, fun, celebration etc.. could be had from this glorious game.
Now, the only new people watching this tournament, or the news of it, are the sort of people so intrigued by mysterious deaths.. The kind of people inclined to read serial killer biographies.
Words are hard to come by, at present, and I hope that whoever committed such a heinous crime, are brought to justice.
Awful news indeed, and I'm absoutely appalled by it.
ReplyDeleteThere's always been the cliché about cricket being like a religion on the subcontinent.
Unfortunately, while millions of happy fans idolising their players is all well and good, there are two sides to every coin. Was it related to gambling? Or an autobiography? Or just Pakistan's abject failure? Or all of the above?
Maybe we will never know.
As unsavoury as all this is, it is not going to bring the game into ruin. One man is not bigger than the game.
Cricket once survived years of institutionalised racism in a bigoted world, where "darkies" were all well and good until they started gunning for the captaincy of their native teams. Even the situation with South Africa in the 80s left a sour taste. The game went on, eventually embracing the issues that had once tarnished it.
Okay, I've completely lost where I was going with this. Suffice to say that it's an awful thing to happen, but cricket is not suddenly going to collapse.
Spectators will still stand and applaud their most hated rivals. Teams aren't suddenly going to start mobbing umpires like a bunch of thuggish footballers.