MONEY HAS RUINED THE SPORTS.

Indian cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been entitled as the highest earning cricket player of the year 2009 with an annual income of $10 million. Similarly, recent news disclosed that England’s soccer star David Beckham earns an annual income of $ 42.7 million. Current English premiere league champion Chelsea spent more than £200 million after the take-over of the club by the new owner. These all examples depict the fact that sports has been highly commercialised. Sports have nearly changed its dimensions. It is not just a form of mere entertainment. It has gained commercial value. A Brazilian soccer star easily earns more than a Bollywood superstar. Sports are not confined within the field, court or a race course. Almost every match is now shown live on ESPN or any other sports channel. The advertising agencies have bloomed up because of it. Players are now financially secured. However, the love for the game has reduced. Cases of match fixings and positive doping results have risen.

Before few decades, a player had to hold another part time job to sustain his livelihood. Now, the cases have been modified. Even today the players hold a part time job but in a different manner. Yuvraj Singh; an Indian left handed all-rounder; who is said to have so called X-Factor, gains more money from endorsing products rather than from his game itself. He gets millions for endorsing products ranging from Gillete to Hair creams. David Beckham has the highest commercial value in the world. Cricket star Sachin Tendulkar is enlisted among the top 50 billionaires of India. They earn a lot and have definitely made their lifestyle easier.

However, because of the continuous effort of players on advertisements, their performance has been affected. As the players get lured by the money amount they get by endorsing the commercial products, they spend more time on it than sports. For instance, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is repeatedly seen endorsing products like ‘Boost’, ‘Dabur Chyawanpras’, ‘Lays’, ‘Sonata Watches’ and ‘Hero-Honda bikes’; was not able to score more than 10 runs in every match during the India tour to Australia 2005, had to give justification to the Indian Cricket Board for his continuous poor performance. The board had accused him of concentrating more on advertisements than on cricket itself.

With plenty of money being poured in sports, the attitude of the players has changed. The players no more play for the thrill and love for the game. The primary motivator is money. They just play to earn. And in case where sports do not provide sufficiently, they are prepared to cross the conventional border of earning. This has given rise to the phenomenon called the match fixing. Many players are and were found to underperform for the alleged sums of money. Hanse Cronje, the former South African Cricket team captain, was guilty in this charge. He gave one of his mediocre performances with Indians for alleged sum of 2 million. Also he was charged of provoking his team mate Hershelle Gibbs for securing less than 20 runs in a match. Cronje had promised Gibbs to give $ 50,000 for this work. In turn, both the players who were found guilty had to face a ban from the South African cricket team. These incidents unswervingly show that money has ruined the spirit of the game.

Moreover, the trend of commercialization has encouraged doping. Since players are forced to win, they involve themselves in using performance enhancing drugs. Tennis star Rogger Federer publicly confessed about the pressure exerted on him for winning the Grand Slam. Apart from the pressure, the money prize which is fixed for a winner by the country leads the player to apply all possible efforts he can to win the match. They even start taking help from drugs. Two years before, Pakistani fast bowlers, Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammed Asif were convicted of the same charge. The positive doping tests showed the traces of ‘Nandrolone’ on their blood samples. Similarly, double gold medallist and Nepali athletes Rajendra Bhandari was found positive in doping tests. Unluckily, he had to strip off both his medals. The fact that the country had promised ten lakh each for the winner of gold medal might be responsible for this.

Nevertheless, commercialisation in sports has also given rise to sledging and conflict in the game. Players are paid and are expected to win. However, they take extra steps of sledging and fighting in the game. They humiliate their opponents and even fight in the pre match press interview. Australian cricketers sledge many of their opponents on and off the fields. A particular individual opponent of the team is selected and sledged. Indian right handed batsman VVS Laxman was a victim of it. Australians openly discussed the vulnerability of Laxman while facing the short pitch balls during the match. They even made fun of him during the match. This creates negative psychological effect on the opponent and because of it their performance vitiates. Players just play to win. This might be a possible negative outcome of commercialisation in sports.

With a lot of money being poured in sports, many changes have been brought. No game is now limited within the playing court or a field. Whole world can watch every matches live. The players as well as sponsoring companies have benefitted. But, the thrill and love for the game has lessened. Now, the primary motivator for any sports is just money. Players play to win; not to get entertained. As a result, cases of doping, match fixings, sledging and even fighting have resulted. All in all, money has ruined the name and fame of the sports.

By: Aman