The success of sports, its popularity with people, is based on having heroes in the sport.
I am hearing less and less of F-1 racing this year. I have never been fascinated by F-1 racing, but I know so many people who used to track it and also talk about it all the time. And now I am hearing a lot less of it. Is it because Michael Schumacher has retired now?? Does it need a news item of his visit to the training field, to regenerate some interest in the sport?
Likewise, back in the days when Prakash Padukone won the All-England Badminton title, all of a sudden, the sport became a big hit in India. Thereafter, it has now been relegated to an occasional small column in the inside sports pages of the newspaper.
For a few years, in between, post Samparas’ retirement, tennis was not being talked about much. Earlier of course, during the days of Becker, Lendl, Borg, McEnroe, Connors, Navratilova, Chris Evert, Graf, etc., the sport was extremely popular in India. Then again, during the days of Agassi and Samparas. But thereafter, the popularity dipped. People said that it was on account of many other sports emerging for the public interest.
However we find tennis returning to its old glory all over again. Thanks to Roger Federer. An amazing hero. A phenomenal success, who has rekindled interest in the sport.
Cricket in India, has always had its share of heroes, whether Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Sachin, or whoever. Hence it has never really dropped out of the popularity charts, irrespective of our win-loss record.
On the other hand, hockey of course, lost its popularity, once we stared losing internationally, and we also lost heroes. At this time, we see a huge movement in the form of the so called Premier Hockey League, being initiated to make hockey popular again. However for want of a hero in the sport, its not getting any decent traction. Inspite of all the efforts of ESPN/Star Sports. Dhanraj Pillay, the last known hero in hockey, seems to have disappeared and without him, the sport will not pick up.
Who cared for golf in India – I mean, amongst the masses. That is a sport which is so far away from a common man in India. But thanks to Tiger Woods and his immense popularity around the world, golf is known and discussed amongst common people in India.
Sports requires heroes.. undoubtedly.
Random Musings 