Incidents of Fan Brawls That Shamed The Gentleman's Game

 

1. February 16-20, 1999  - India vs Pakistan, Asian Test Championship

India vs Pakistan is always a blockbuster encounter. But this Kolkata match left more scars than its fair share of disappointments. India, who were set a target of 279 on Day three of the Test, were comfortably placed at 143-2. Tendulkar, who was cheered by a record crowd, flicked one off his pads in Typical Tendulkar fashion was rushing back for the third and it looked like he would make there comfortably.  (Odisha CM Orders Probe Into Crowd Violence in Cuttack)

However, a collision with Shoaib Akhtar coupled with substitute fielder Nadeem Khan's direct hit not only found the Master Blaster short, but also had his bat in the air. On-field umpire Steve Bucknor referred it to the third umpire, where KT Francis, who, after a lengthy delay, gave him out.

Akhtar had to bear the brunt of the fans' attack as they started pelting bottles and various other objects when he returned to his usual position at the boundary. A lengthy 67-minute delay followed.

Wisden had then reported: "Spectators started burning newspapers in the stands and hurled stones, fruit and plastic bottles on to the field. The match was held up for over three hours as about 65,000 people were removed by police and security men.

"The crowd's anger was still concentrated on Tendulkar's run-out, but there was little viciousness in the riot; it was born of disappointment rather than anti-Pakistan feeling. There was no sign of violence outside the ground."

2. January 1, 1967 - India vs West Indies

Established in 1864, Eden's first brush with controversy began with this crowd trouble, which erupted during an India vs West Indies game. India were trailing 0-1 in the Test series and crowd was hoping that the home team would level the series against the visitors that was led by Sir Gary Sobers.

The Eden Gardens, which had much larger capacity back then had to face the brunt of fans' ire due to the careless approach of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB). Fake and duplicate tickets were readily available in black market, which meant that the ground which had the capacity of 60,000 people ended up having more than 80,000 spectators on that day.

The crowd's temper soon reached the tipping point with the spectators eventually spilling on to the ground. The police had to resort to lathi-charge, which led to protest from the crowd.

Police, who were outnumbered, had to face the brunt of it as the crowd set fire to the canvas roof of the stands. Soon the mob stormed onto the ground and riot followed soon after.

3. March 13, 1996 - India vs Sri Lanka, WC semi-finals

They say a picture says a thousand words and this was indeed an example of one. Who can forget the heart-breaking image of Vinod Kambli walking off the Eden Gardens pitch after India were reduced to 120-8 after sitting pretty at 98-2, chasing 252. Sachin Tendulkar was looking to win the match on his own before catastrophe struck. Tendulkar looking to play a Sanath Jayasuriya delivery down the leg side was comprehensively stumped by Romesh Kaluwitharana, which turned the tide in Sri Lanka's favour.

The Crowd was stunned and frustrated by team's performance started throwing missiles on to the ground. Then match-referee Clive Lloyd had no other option but to award the game to Sri Lanka.

4. November 9, 1969 - India vs Australia, Brabourne Stadium

Crowd has never been at their best when India are losing or a decision goes against their team. Similar incident happened in 1969 Test as well, when things went out of hand for the visiting Aussies.

The mob, who were already seething due to the poor performance from the Indian team, lost it when umpire Sambhu Pan raised his finger as he gave S Venkataraghavan out caught behind. As the batsman walked off in disbelief, a bemused wicketkeeper Brian Taber remarked, "He missed it by a foot!".

The stands were set on fire and bottles and chairs were hurled. Despite that, the umpires decided to carry one with the game despite the missiles making their way into the playing area.

It took Jehangir Irani, one of the official scorers, who stormed out in in protest, requesting the match to be suspended. Australians, however, stayed on the ground for another 20 minutes as the police tried hard to get the unruly ground out of the ground.

Policemen at a cricket stadium. Advertisement billboards were torn apart by angry fans during India-West Indies ODI match at the Keenan Stadium, Jamshedpur.

© AFP

 

5. November 6, 2002 -  India vs West Indies, Keenan Stadium

West Indies were in the thick of things again as mob at the Keenan stadium turned violent during the One-day International. The visitors did well to chase down a competitive score from India and were only 12 runs adrift from India's total when Jamshedpur fans started to throw bottles on to the pitch and light fires in the stands.

Advertising boards around the Keenan Stadium were also ripped apart and umpires and players had to rush back to the dressing room. Windies were awarded the match on the Duckworth-Lewis rule.

6. June 4, 1879 - England vs Australia, Sydney

Not many would know that history of crowd trouble in cricket actually dates back to 1879, when more than 2,000 fans invaded the pitch and disrupted play after an umpiring dispute broke out between members of the visiting English cricket team and the New South Wales Cricket Association in Sydney.

Controversy broke out when Australian batsman Billy Murdoch was given out by umpire George Coulthard. The dismissal caused an uproar among the spectators and many rushed on to the pitch and assaulted Coulthard and some English players.

7. February 13, 1971 - England vs Australia, Sydney

During the seventh and final Ashes Test between Australia and England at the Sydney Cricket Ground, beer bottles were thrown at England's pacer John Snow. If that was not enough he was manhandled too by a drunk fan after Australia's Terry Jenner was forced to retire hurt after having accidentaly ducked under Snow bouncer.

England's skipper Ray Illingworth stormed out of the pitch, only to return seven minutes later after umpires Tom Brooks and Lou Rowan warned Illingworth that the match and the Ashes would be awarded to Australia.

In the clash, a sight-screen attendant was hit by a beer can thrown from the crowd, leaving him unconscious and having to be carried from the field on a stretcher. 14 fans were arrested for offensive behaviour and a further 190 were ejected.

8. September 16, 1997 - India vs Pakistan, Toronto

Who can forget the famous hilarious incident involving Inzamam-ul-Haq during the second game of the Sahara Cup? Pakistan had been shot out for 116 and India were going steady at 45-1 in the 16th over. Inzamam, who was stationed at the boundary, lost it when one of the fan started comparing Inzamam to several kinds of potato over a megaphone.

Inzy, who had enough by now, asked the Pakistan team's 12th man, Mohammad Hussain to bring the bat. Pakistan newspaper The Dawn, reported that eyewitnesses said the supporters barracked whatever Inzamam did. "O mote, sidha khara ho [O fatso, stand straight], mota aaloo, sara alloo [fat potato, rotten potato]."

The Guardian too quoted an eyewitness as saying "If not for the spectators and security staff curbing him, he would have broken the head of that guy. The guy with the megaphone was no match for Inzamam and got mauled. Even when Canadian police took Inzamam back on to the field, he was trying to get back to the stands."

9. January 31, 2010 -  Pakistan vs Australia, Perth

In the fifth and final One-day International between Australia and Pakistan at the WACA, Perth, a drunk Australian fan, stormed onto the field and tackled Pakistan's Khalid Latif before being detained by security.

A second pitch invasion occurred earlier in the game, and another 24 fans were ejected.

Policemen inspect the Premdasa stadium after crowd violence erupted during Sri Lanka-Pakistan match in 2015.

© AFP

10. July 19, 2015 - Sri Lanka vs Pakistan, Premadasa stadium

This probably for the first time a game would have been disrupted due to infighting amongst two groups.

The interruption came during Sri Lanka's chase and the hosts were reeling at 158 for 7 in the 34th over of their chase of 317. However, there was an issue between two factions in the stands and the players were asked to leave the field soon after. The police and riot police quelled the violence and play resumed at 10:05pm with no reduction in overs.

Mahela Jayawardene, the former Sri Lanka captain, tweeted about the incident "Tough game for @OfficialSLC . Heard what happen with the spectators. We as a nation don't believe in this kind of behaviour."