by Trevor Chesterfield
Arriving back in New Zealand with a young family in the mid-1970s, finding accommodation in breezy sprawling Auckland was easy enough. Kiwis are as always ever helpful.
When it comes to their own, they look after you. Local family connections, through an eldest brother and an endearing sister-in-law quickly took over. After all, being an absent occupant of the land of your birth for eight years is long enough.
Especially when you consider the previous foreign sojourn had lasted five and a half years, and on that return journey there was the matter of a train excursion with a friend that took us from Bombay to Ahmedabad and a wedding of good Gujarat friends met in London when thye were attending medical school.
Travel creates good friendships and with it the sort of bonhomie that widens the circle of relationships and egalitarian principles, which most Kiwis are taught from an early age. But when foreign officialdom starts demanding you start behaving contemptuously towards fellow-Kiwis, it is time to ask questions.
Forget that they, in this case the Board of Control for Cricket in India, are behaving like a group of rowdy Sri Ram Sena types demanding that New Zealand Cricket ‘do as we say or else’ style policy. Wielding such a big stick is not the way to go about to build friendly relations, no matter who those wielding the big stick are.
It gives the impression that Lalit Modi, the Indian Premier League commissioner, recently ejected as chairman of the Rajasthan Cricket Association, is behaving as would Uddhav Thackeray, of the right wing Shiv Sena, by forcing demands on NZC. This type of action denied the Wellington public a chance to see Sachin Tendulkar in a charity game because there was an ICL player, Hamish Marshall in the side.
What type of bully tactics are these that the BCCI are employing in the name of the game. They are not transparent. And to give those unaware of who the Sri Ram Sena are, it is a fanatical fundamentalist right wing Hindu group who recently beat young women who were drinking with friends in bars.
Some years ago, Thackeray’s father, Bal, led a group of his Shiv Sena party members to dig up a pitch in Mumbai as Pakistan were to play in the city and it was their action in 1991 which saw the cancellation of the Pakistan tour and led to the historic three-match South African visit.
It seems that New Zealand has bent a few rules to allow several Indian players, Rahul Dravid included, to play in the New Zealand Premier League where there will be no contact with ICL players.
All of which makes anyone with a fair mind asking a question of double standards being applied to accommodate the Sri Ram Sena style behaviour of the BCCI. It is a disgrace as well as taking away the dignity of the New Zealand players. This being the behaviour forced on NZC, frankly, the Kiwi public should boycott the remainder of the Indian tour and see how the BCCI and Modi react.
It is also time those running the Indian Cricket League acted forcefully and as did Kerry Packer in 1977 take the matter of denying a player a living to court. In New Zealand, as in Australia, there are laws defending their citizens and the right to work and make a living and the BCCI should be reminded of this pertinent fact.
Modi has become too powerful in his role of IPL commissioner and should be told a few home truths. One is to learn a few manners.
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