The global sports industry – of which the Olympics are the most important example – has largely skewed rational thinking about sport throug...
The global sports industry – of which the Olympics are the most important example – has largely skewed rational thinking about sport through feeding middle-class national egos in our part of the world. Sporting extravaganzas such as the Olympics have quite successfully made national welfare synonymous with what feels good for a tiny minority.
An idea of the public good should dictate a greater share of the national income being spent to improve health and educational facilities for the most disadvantaged sections of the population. However, around this time, there is intense breast-beating about the lack of Olympic medals and the need for greater expenditure on sporting infrastructure to create a “sporting culture” to increase the tally. But the problem is that sporting cultures cannot be created through greater expenditure on sporting infrastructure. Countries that have so-called sporting cultures are those that also have considerable expenditure on a variety of social indicators such as health and education.
Apart from cricket, the modern history of sport in India is similar to that of recruitment of army jawans. It is an arena where men and women from disadvantaged backgrounds find opportunities for material and social advancement. And, in both cases, they carry the burden of middle-class national...
