Crowd at Pakistan-India matches
Hi guys,
I was one of the lucky ones who had the opportunity to witness that final and now that we’ve had some time to digest what happened, I just wanted to bring up something important about India-Pakistan matches that I’m scared could become the norm.
Couple of days before the final, /u/sukalpa made a [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/Cricket/comments/6ht1t0/i_hope_the_hype_doesnt_go_beyond_what_is/) about how he was worried that the crowd would get violent due to emotions running high and how fans have behaved on social media recently. I attended the 2013 group match and had loads of family and friends present at the one this year naively replied back saying that UK crowds have been well behaved at the India-Pakistan matches here. This wasn’t the case at the final. Now before I go any further, I’d like to stress that this wasn’t just one group of fans. Both sets had plenty of opportunities to deescalate the situation but refused to do so.
Now the day started off really well. Both sets of fans mingled well and were in fine voice. You had your usual India-Pakistan banter. Indians reminding us of our dismal record at ICC events, Pakistanis reminding them of the overall record, Mauka Mauka, etc. The Indian support in my section, led by the Bharat army, was very loud and I really enjoyed the football-esque chants that they had for each player. We had one Indian fan in our section who got drunk aggressive and made a few rude provocative comments (religious and nationalist), as well of plenty of ma bhens but the Indian fans around always calmed him down and the Pakistanis did well to not react too much to his provocations. Since his family was with him to including his kids, I guess no one felt the need to get the stewards involved.
Middle of the 2nd innings though, it all went to shit. After the Dhoni wicket, it was becoming clear that Pakistan were going to win and the chanting from the Bharat Army became less about their own players and more about provoking the group of Pakistani fans in our sections. Every chant was aimed at Pakistan and at times were inappropriate (although not as bad as the spiel from the drunk fan previously mentioned, but still). This, along with some individuals who crossed the line ended up resulted in tempers flaring and things getting out of control between both groups.
At this point, the majority of both groups should've had the maturity to try and deescalate the situation. It got so out of hand that the stewards struggled to calm it down (although the stewards and their response was pretty pathetic to say the least) and it honestly could’ve escalated further if [Ashwin’s wicket](https://streamable.com/ctepw) didn’t fall in the middle of it all. That led to everyone stopping for a bit to watch what happened and instead of stopping it there, they all tried to [carry on](https://streamable.com/3ytkg) (was actually pretty surreal how it all just went from aggression to celebration and back to aggression again). Although this time the stewards had finally gotten backup from security and managed to calm it all down.
Minus the India group stage match, I attended every Pakistan match this year and on each occasion got to sit alongside opposition fans. Each time I had a great fun chatting, exchanging plenty of light-hearted banter and making new friends. This is also usually the case when I attend rugby matches, where I usually have a great time being part of a mixed crowd. I’m scared that if this sort of behaviour carries on, the ICC will slowly move towards segregation at world events like football. I’m also a massive football fan and always found segregation at football matches here in the UK sad but necessary due to hooligan culture.
I’m hoping that this was an one off with the magnitude of the game but steps should be taken by both sets of fans and maybe even the cricketing boards to remind fans attending that cricket is a sport that has never and should never be associated this sort of behaviour and people should go to watch the game and enjoy a day out, not to get carried away and drag politics and religion into it.
Also, credit to the Indian fans who stayed till the very end and even [joined in the celebrations](https://streamable.com/x4r5x). It showed what sport is really about!
tl;dr: Keep calm and watch cricket when attending Pakistan-India matches please. Less of this hooligan-esque nonsense.