Just before the Indian hockey team departed for the World Cup in Belgium, we were presented the team in new saffron jerseys. Slowly and creepily, the traditional blue jersey India wore was thrown aside and replaced with a distinctly nationalistic saffron jersey. What made matters worse was that the president of the hockey federation, Dileep Tirkey, who had played with distinction for India as a defender, was himself unaware of this change in national colours. Clearly, it was a colour coup.
An outraged Tirkey has asked for an explanation, but it is very clear that the president of the hockey federation and Orissa state, which sponsors the team, were kept out of this backroom manoeuvre to saffronise the team. It is in keeping with a continuing effort to present India in saffron, this being the dominant colour used by Hindu nationalistic organisations and even the ruling BJP and thus a religious symbol.
Sport And Nationalism
The attempt to saffronise, and even militarise, sport in India has been on for the past decade. Various attempts were made to change the colour of the cricket team jersey as well, but it has not succeeded because, like in all sports, national colours are registered in all sports.
To link sport with a muscular nationalism and militarism in line with right-wing notions is not confined to India alone. This has been attempted in Europe and the Americas as well.
In an academic study of this phenomenon in New Zealand, for example, Damion Sturm, Tom Kavanagh and Robert Rinehart (2021) offer an exploration of ‘pseudo-nationalism’ within the promotional strategies of sporting franchises in New Zealand. The authors highlight their scepticism regarding the potential success of this strategy, concluding that the “claimed links between sport, nation, and corporation are tenuous, dubious to non-existent, with expressions of pseudo-nationalistic sentiment predominantly having commercial, global and mediated interests at heart”, thus leading to their likely failure.
Debate Over Team Colours
When the Indian cricket team’s alternate World Cup jersey, which has an overdose of orange or saffron colour, was tried out a few years back, a Samajwadi Party MP commented that it is the beginning of the saffronisation of cricket and the tricolour should have been used as the colour for the second, or ‘away game’, jersey. Though orange has been part of the Indian jersey for almost two decades now (team names were in orange), orange or saffron has never been able to dominate over the predominant and non-controversial blue colour by which the team has been identified and fondly called “the Blues”.
Will the hockey team now gradually become known as “the Saffron” from the earlier “the Blues”? The attempt to make Indian sport reflect the political inclination of the ruling party is an ongoing effort. Sometimes players are also co-opted into this venture in many countries.
A few years before he retired, MS Dhoni sported the ‘drawn dagger’ symbol of a military unit, of which he is a volunteer member, in his cricket jersey. There was national outrage before the ICC stepped in and asked Dhoni to remove the symbol. Earlier, too, attempts were made to change the blue of the Indian team. A yellow Indian jersey was used in 1994 during a series in New Zealand.
Rituals On The Field
Most national jerseys sport some version or colour of the national flag, as if singing the national anthem before the match is not enough nationalism. The national flag itself is not seen on the jersey due to rules but has found a place on the front of the helmet, which batsmen kiss after scoring a century or after leading the team to victory. Here, the intention is to dedicate the victory to the country and, thus, directly inspire nationalism. After kissing the national flag, the player usually makes a religious sign, lifting his head to the sky or drawing the sign of the cross, lest the gods residing above feel left out of this praise-giving ritual. Aggressive nationalism has always shared space with the divine.
Muslim players go down on their knees to show their allegiance to Allah. Many players wear religious symbols in chains and rings. When Sourav Ganguly took his jersey off for an aggressive waving of the jersey from the Lord’s balcony, he revealed an embarrassment of talismans around his neck, showing that superstition and divinity played a prominent role in his game.
So, within the confines of the national jersey are entwined notions of religiosity and nationalism, and the hapless player, apart from scoring a century or a goal in hockey, is also forced to openly show his allegiances to the gods and the country. Some manage to squeeze in some symbolic act for their wives or their newborns by sucking their thumbs like soccer players do. No player so far has shown any atheist or secular symbol, suggesting that heroic players fear the gods as much as their admiring countrymen do. Just the raising of the bat or pointing it towards the pavilion was for long the pattern, and that was a purely secular show. Now that alone won’t do.
Political Symbols In Sport
Political symbolism, party or military salutes, etc., are completely banned in all sports in the field of play. The raised black-fist salute at the Mexico Olympics of 1968 resulted in both the Afro-American athletes being banned. They also wore no shoes on the victory podium to draw attention to the plight of the black poor. So, sport is not just a game of winning medals or trophies. You have to win it for your country or club. It is a ritual for all winners in top athletic competition, especially the Olympics and the Asian Games, to wrap themselves in the national flag while they do a lap of honour. Victory and a century, thus, are always appropriated for the sake of nationalism.
John is a senior journalist and author based in New Delhi. He is the author of the forthcoming All in a Flash: News Photography in India.
