Mahmood, Monty and the "Cricket Test"

mike65

Very dissapointed to hear that Sajid Mahmood after a matching winning performance alongside Monty Panesar, got a barracking from some Pakistan supporters accusing him of "selling out".

The cheek, the man is born in Britain and grew up playing the game in England making his way up the ranks to the point where the chance to play for England (his country!) was on offer. Not suprisingly he grabbed the oppotunity and now ethnic Pakistanis give him the bird! Or is it a Muslim thing?

Mike.

DMC

Got to tread lightly here...

Or is it that some Pakistanis (or Asians as a whole community) have no loyality to England/Britain? Even if it gives them opportunities/income/lifestyle/housing/ that they would not have got in their land or their parents land?

I find it baffling.

county

i totally agree with you lads,its out of order.and the 'muslim' point mike brought up is a big issue,the fact is 90% of all pakistan supporters in the ground were probably born and bred in britain,it sickens me big time that people born and bred in england would support another country solely on the basis of religion:(

TrueDub

I can understand what you say, but I'd look at the parallels of children born in England to Irish parents - some of them support Ireland against England. It may not be religiously motivated, it might simply be identification with a concept like "the country of their roots".

I'm not saying it's right or wrong, mind.

However, any sort of abuse of this type is completely out of order. Once again, though, there's an Irish parallel: I heard quite a few nasty things being shouted to Ed Joyce when he was playing for England against Ireland in Belfast. Whether they were jokes is a moot point, but they were out of line and totally unnecessary.

There are differences in the two situations, in that Mahmood was born in England and Joyce declared, but the level of abuse, good-natured or not, is still too much.

county

TrueDub wrote:

I can understand what you say, but I'd look at the parallels of children born in England to Irish parents - some of them support Ireland against England. It may not be religiously motivated, it might simply be identification with a concept like "the country of their roots".

fair point but on a personal note i was born in england,apart from my father all my family are irish and i have lived in this country longer than i did in england,but i would never follow ireland before england but i dont deny my irish roots

TrueDub

countyfair wrote:

point but on a personal note i was born in england,apart from my father all my family are irish and i have lived in this country longer than i did in england,but i would never follow ireland before england but i dont deny my irish roots

I didn't mean to imply that - apologies if it came across that way.

Some people would feel that by supporting Pakistan (say) ahead of England because their parents are from Pakistan is indentifying with their roots. Others would point out that having been born & educated in England their roots are actually English.

We're getting into the dangerous Tebbit-like area, so I'll say no more!

county

TrueDub wrote:

I didn't mean to imply that - apologies if it came across that way.

Some people would feel that by supporting Pakistan (say) ahead of England because their parents are from Pakistan is indentifying with their roots. Others would point out that having been born & educated in England their roots are actually English.

We're getting into the dangerous Tebbit-like area, so I'll say no more!

no offence was taken from your post mate;)

DMC

TrueDub wrote:

Some people would feel that by supporting Pakistan (say) ahead of England because their parents are from Pakistan is indentifying with their roots. Others would point out that having been born & educated in England their roots are actually English.

We kinda have the same here, but on less racial lines..... in that Dublin supporters don't necessarily live in Dublin anymore, and for some reason, support of Dublin GAA has shot through the roof. In a lot of places in Meath, Kildare and even Cavan, you can see the tribal buntings from cars and houses all around. I wonder are the ex-pat Dubs involved in GAA in these counties, and if they were, would they still be supporting the Dubs? What about kids of Dublin parents who go to school in e.g. Meath? Won't they go on to play for Meath?

Going back to cricket, are those Pakistani supporters who barracked Mahmood playing cricket locally in England, or are they using the Pakistani identity for the sake of identity?