News

Irate Indian fans urge boycott of cricketers' endorsements

New Delhi, Feb 17 AFP - A number of Indian cricket fans, outraged by their team's humiliating loss to Australia, are campaigning to punish Sourav Ganguly and his men by boycotting products they endorse

AFP
17-Feb-2003
New Delhi, Feb 17 AFP - A number of Indian cricket fans, outraged by their team's humiliating loss to Australia, are campaigning to punish Sourav Ganguly and his men by boycotting products they endorse.
An instant poll taken by the Hindi-language news channel Aaj Tak after India was crushed by the defending champions yesterday found that more than 80 per cent of respondents would stay away from products plugged by the "Men in Blue".
And now short messaging service (SMS) messages are circulating across India's mobile telephone network urging an outright boycott.
The Times of India said some sponsors, sensing the public mood, have quietly withdrawn television commercials featuring the Indian cricketers, who have superstar status in this country of one billion-plus.
What worried the sponsors was a single SMS message sent across the country which said: "we make one promise today -- not to buy any product which has Indian cricketers as models," the daily said.
Two mobile phone service providers in eastern India said that while it was impossible to tell how many of the messages were sent, they had each recorded it hitting users' inboxes 100,000 times.
India managed only 125 runs against Australia in their second match at the World Cup at Centurion Park after its batting crumbled.
India's first match against minnows Netherlands also offered a colourless batting performance, with the Dutch dismissing the former champions for 204.
Dejected fans threw spent oil and black paint at Indian player Mohammad Kaif's house in the northern Indian city of Allahabad.
The front wall of Kaif's three-storey house was blackened by a group of irate demonstrators, the cricketer's elder brother Mohammad Saif told the Press Trust of India news agency.
Family members, who were asleep during the incident, have requested security cover.
In captain Ganguly's home city of Calcutta, fans took out a mock Hindu funeral procession to mark what they said was the death of Indian cricket.
An effigy symbolising India's national obsession was wrapped in white cloth and carried by mock pall bearers, who later consigned the "body" to flames amid Hindu religious chants.
"Indian cricket is dead after its humiliating nine wicket defeat against Australia," said Amit De, a spokesman for the Calcutta Youth Federation, which had organised the protest.
He blamed the Indian cricket board for the team's dismal performance saying "the funeral procession marks the end of Indian cricket."