It’s no secret that India is a cricket-crazy nation. Roughly, from the day Kapil Dev lifted the World Cup trophy in 1983 till date, cricket will beat every Indian sport on the popularity scale. Not even the most ardent football fan (or any other sport for that matter) would argue with that.
But, in what must go down as a sign of things changing, the cricket and football fraternity came together recently for a good cause. When it was announced that Kochi would host a One Day International between India and West Indies later this year, eyebrows were raised. Were the Kerala Cricket Association really going to dig up one of the most beautiful football pitches in the country, in a Fifa-approved stadium that hosted Under-17 World Cup matches? Did it make sense, especially given that Tiruvananthapuram boasted of a brand-new cricket stadium that came in for plenty of praise during the recent India-Australia T20I for its world class facilities?
First, the fans were confused. Then they got angry. A campaign started gaining traction, especially on Twitter, with the hashtag #SaveKochiTurf spreading far and wide.
And it was not just the fans of Kerala Blasters. It was not just the fans of Indian Super League. Forget cricket vs football for a minute, even football fans in India are usually not united on most issues. It’s a divisive world out there. But they all came together. The footballers, Indian and foreign, spoke up. Politician Shashi Tharoor stepped in. CK Vineeth, Kerala’s favourite footballing son, started his own plea. Sunil Chhetri wasn’t too far behind.
And the cricket fans stepped in as well. And once the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly lent their voice to the campaign, you knew it was a matter of time before the KCA made the decision to move the game away from Kochi.
Social media activism doesn’t usually lead anywhere, but it’s fair to say, in this case, the fans’ voices were heard and the sane decision was taken.
Here’s a video on how cricket and football came together to #SaveKochiTurf: