Are Indian fans applying a 'reverse Tebbit test'?

[hassan_113]

Hearing a few chants about "Pakistan Murdabad" didn't particularly impress me last weekend.

[Captain of Bhangra]

If there ever was a sport which both India and america played' date=' would this happen with 2nd or 3rd generation american kids?I may be wrong, but i don't think this would happen in usa.[/quote'] I think the history between the 2 countries (ie: the Empire) plays a part. It would be different with the US for that reason...

[RedFever]

I think most of the people booing England must be the ones on visa (student or work visa ). Once you are a citizen or have a PR of that country, you have to integrate with the culture. You may not support the team, but booing makes no sense.

[G_B_]

Will take more time I guess. WI supporters of Indian origin support WI I'm guessing? Their immigration took place years ago. Maybe it has to do with icons? WI have had plenty of Indian origin players - Kallicharan, Chanderpaul, Rampaul, Sarwan, Narine etc. In SA are they ppl born in India or ppl born in SA? With ppl like Amla, Panesar etc prolly change will happen - will take time though. In 20-30 years the % supporting home teams will increase a lot though. I mean, if you look at it - even Australians are just Englishmen who migrated way back.

Amla and Monty for eg have just broken in. WI had the likes of Rohan Kanhai Kalicharan (his son lives in england and supports India btw lol) way back. The fact is not a days with wide spread television you can watch all the Indian matches you want. I dont think its going to happen. Probably before the TV era it would have happened (which is probably what happened in the WI). There are a new gen of indian fans in commonwealth countries growing up supporting Dhoni as an icon. Point being television has changed everything. In the UK we get every cricket game in the world involving india on sky sports.

[hassan_113]

It's the British ones that booed and the student ones who are well behaved.

[Captain of Bhangra]

I think most of the people booing England must be the ones on visa (student or work visa ). Once you are a citizen or have a PR of that country' date=' you have to integrate with the culture. You may not support the team, but booing makes no sense.[/quote'] Sorry to have to correct you, but the ones I saw booing on youtube (after the match) were British Indians. I wasn't one of them before you ask! I saved my energy to cheer for India...

[G_B_]

yeah the ones booing were probably the chav minority of British Indians.

[Sarkar]

Indians of Indian origin will support India regard less where they are born @Hassan Pakistan murdabad was wrong according to you but what about words like are you watching India bringing religion into cricket by Pak fans.

[G_B_]

unfortunately there will always be bad blood when india play pak. Idiots on both sides. i would say this time it was quite docile and people in general got along.

[Prakat]

Lot of Indians drove in or took the train from Europe. They obviously have no fealty for England.

[Muloghonto]

Its easier to be a Canadian. So long as you cheer for a NHL club (any club) and Team Canada in the Olympics, Canadians don't care if you support other nations against Canada in any other sport.

[Captain of Bhangra]

I will say that this article has been discussed on another forum, where all the members are British born/raised India fans. Everyone on that forum has different, but valid reasons for supporting India over England, however they all seem to condemn the incidents mentioned in the article...

[G_B_]

its probably just one incident with that sikh england supporter. the writer needs something to talk about

[G_B_]

I also find this talk of integration to be totally odd. in my book if you -- work hard --- pay your taxes --- dont do anything illegal, socially or economically --- can speak fluent english after some time in the country you have integrated. What next, ban the saree or salwar kamez and cause you want to integrate? where does it stop?

[Sooda]

I do not know how to explain why I support India over England despite being UK born. In fact I dislike the England team and all the talk that goes around with them. Maybe Indian flair captures the imagination more and because we think we have a choice we excercise it. Maybe its our way of staying true to our roots and cultural identity. I am not sure it has anything to do with not being not as well integrated as those in SA and WI- it sounds like a great number of Saf-Indians support India when they tour SA. I consider myself quite well integrated. Without knowing how such a thing is measured- I feel at home working/playing/dealing with non ethnic Brits and India is a foreign country to me in many ways and yet I follow and support them. That holds true for a lot of friends of mine. I think its also fair to say that whilst one might find Brit Indians supporting England, one will almost never find a Brit Pakistani supporting England- a measure that Indians are better integrated here? I can also understand why Non Ethnic Brits find it unusual- although they care alot less about it than british Asians- I have been asked more than once by work and uni colleagues why i support India when they play England. With regards to Bopara and Monty- its hard to say who they would have cheered for had they been spectators. and unfair to assume it would have been India. Ridiculous that a) that Sikh guy was targeted - as unusual as it is to find Brit Asians supporting England and b) Bopara has been branded as a traitor. I agree with the article he is a role model for young brit asian pro cricketers. He works hard at his game and is bearing the fruits of that This brings up bigger and profound questions of Identity

[IKnowU]

Its the same here in Australia, all the Indian origin kids and family support India till they die and hate the australian team as much as the people back in India but still have respect for them. Although there are like %1 that support and stick to Australia regardless.

[kubrickian]

I have seen English people in Sri Lanka and West Indies (who live there) support England when they play cricket there.

[Rocky Balboa]

Muslims in India supporting Pakistan is an entirely different issue.

[Muloghonto]

Muslims in India supporting Pakistan is an entirely different issue.

Not really. Its a sport, you can support whoever you want in sport without having your character called into question IMO. I used to support the Kiwis more than the Indians in my youth. This is because my first autograph was Richard Hadlee before he was even a star. Sometimes, thats all it takes to determine sporting loyalty.

[Rocky Balboa]

Not really. Its a sport' date=' you can support whoever you want in sport without having your character called into question IMO. I used to support the Kiwis more than the Indians in my youth. This is because my first autograph was Richard Hadlee before he was even a star. Sometimes, thats all it takes to determine sporting loyalty.[/quote'] Pakistan is not a friendly country and you don't want your fellow citizen to celebrate their victory. When an entire country considers Pakistan as their enemy and when you see few Muslims celebrating pak's victory like theirs, its an ugly situation. I would not mind if they celebrate aussie's victory against us because Australia or kiwis are not considered as our enemies.