Sri Lankan Cricket - Identity in the Innings

Do you know how I spent the last World Cup Finals? Let me remind you it was Sri Lanka versus Australia, in Barbados. I was in Colombo. I had to stay home due to security fears. As things started to go Australia's way, the LTTE air raided over Colombo, prompting a city-wide blackout. Fortunately I had power still left on my laptop and internet connection. But obviously it's not the same; having to track a game by the score rather than being able to watch it.

This World Cup for Sri Lankan fans has been drastically different, not only due to the relative peace, but because many of the matches have been played in front of the homecrowd. And what an electric atmosphere it has been here! I was lucky enough to get tickets to the quarter-finals and semi-finals; through painstaking efforts however. The 35,000 tickets for each game were sold out within hours, and well before Sri Lanka had even qualified. So once they had made it to the knock-out stages, fans were on a desperate scramble. I for one, had to call every Tom, Dick, and De Silva in Colombo. In the end I propositioned a TukTuk driver ten times the original price. But that just meant for me that a $3 ticket went up to $30.

Watching the game right infront of your eyes is an experience. At the beginning of the match I was a little disoriented with the lack of commentary, being so used to watching matches on TV. Soon I realised the experience was about being in the crowd just as much as it was to watch the players in your vicinity. Premadasa Stadium was awash with rivers of blue and yellow, and I was soon reminded that Sri Lankans love any excuse to party. Every time there was a boundary or the end of an over, the crowd erupted into dance. And when that Baila music came on - the soundtrack to the Island - not a soul stood still. Behind every game of cricket in the sub-continent however, simmers a whole pot of socio-political completixies. It's never just a simple game of cricket.

I've been hearing for years now that Muslims in Sri Lanka support Pakistan over Sri Lanka. At the games however, I encountered many Muslims; even women wearing full hijabs in the baking sun draped in Sri Lankan flags. However, the more pressing issue has always been the Tamil-Sinhala one.


For the Semi-Final after party I went out with two doctors I had met at the game. One of Sinhalese origin and one being Sri Lankan Muslim. Knowing that I'm of Tamil ethnicity and living in Canada, they asked me whether I was supporting Sri Lanka or not. It reminded me of internet propoganda circulated by some in the Tamil Diaspora I saw a few days ago. It had pictures of horrific war incidents, and a slogan that read, "If you see their National Sport, you may not want to support their Cricket. Boycott Sri Lankan Cricket." It had evoked much in me. I was reminded that those even being born in a country, could choose to go so vehementlty against it. I strongly believe that those behind this propaganda have every right to hold their views, if I am entitled to mine. Just because of artificially imposed state dilieanations (imposed by the wonderful colonizers) Sri Lanka is not organically one nation.

I know that wearing my Sri Lankan cricket jersey will offend some Tamils. I know that I wouldn't wear it Canada. But really Sri Lanka has always been home to me - growing up here, and coming back every year at length. Having lived in Colombo, as opposed to the North or the East, I grew up with both Tamil and Sinhalese friends. I was told as a kid by many Tamils here, that a Sinhalese person is anyday my brother or sister over the Indian Tamil. Even today, after having spent many years out of the Island, I am more culturally akin to the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka than the Indian Tamils I have met. So when the two doctors asked me who I was supporting, I asserted "Sri Lanka, But...."

The national TV cricket analysis is in Sinhalese. They sure enough have a Tamil guy to speak for 20 minutes or so in Tamil every now and then, but I've realised just how problematic this language issue is. There is also ofcourse Russell Arnold, the national cricketer of Tamil origin on the main panel. He speaks in Sinhalese. Muttiah Muralitharan is the crowd favorite at the stadium. He gets the standing ovation and the chants everytime, and Kumar Sangakkarra even declared him, "The Icon of Sri Lanka". However Sangakkarra goes on to address the homecrowd in Sinhalese. For the minority of Tamils in North in East, and for me (who speaks about 10 words of Sinhalese) it serves as a boundary - one that disallows us from sharing in that 'Sri Lankan' spirit. Having lived in England and heard all the "go home"s, I've never felt truly English supporting the football team. Having lived in Canada for just a few years, I've never felt truly Canadian supporting the hockey team. Sri Lanka, I so desperately wished, was my country. But even here I've had to swallow the uncomfortable reality that, even though I can survive without a word of Sinhalese, I can't feel truly complete to this island without knowing it.

I expressed to my doctor friends that I can accept this for now. They laughed and said it wasn't true. That Sri Lanka is no way not just for Sinhala Buddhists. I shrugged my shoulders. Then I said there's just one thing I want immediately for Sri Lankan cricket and for ethnic solidarity. I know for a fact there are world-class potential cricket players in the North and East. The recruiting for the team only takes place in elite schools in the Colombo and Kandy regions. Aravinda de Silva, national cricket hero, and Coco-Cola have already sampled cricket camps in the North. But if they could reach out all over the island. If they could reach out to the poor, rural villages of the South also; then the Sri Lankan cricket team could have even more crop to pick its creme. My family are from Manipay, Jaffna, and when our local Russell Arnold was playing on the national stage we were so excited. If talent from the Sri Lankan villages of those in the diaspora circulating propaganda were to one day play on the Sri Lankan Cricket Team, it could potentially engage their interest and pride - and well - maybe we could break a boundary - off the field.