Toxic Fan Wars Hurt Indian Cricket More Than Any Rival Ever Could

 

Toxic fan culture is yet again back to haunt us. The Travis Head–Virat Kohli handshake issue has now reached Head’s wife and family, and yet again we have seen red lines crossed. May I say, this isn’t the first time. Each time something happens, we see these trolls (read rascals) discredit fandom and do something sinister. The fact is, no one – and yes, no one – can target a player’s family. It is a firm no. Having experienced it first-hand during the ban, I know what it is like for your mother, wife or child to be called names. This is where social media turns into filth, and something ought to be done immediately to mediate and monitor things.

The toxic fan army on Twitter and other social media platforms need to understand that, by being blindly loyal to an individual, the larger cause is defeated. By attacking Head’s wife, no loyalty to Kohli is being proved. And this is perhaps the only truth. The Indian fandom, so focused on individuals, is actually vicious and poisonous. Worship of individuals has forever been the bane of Indian sport. It is as if fans were, at times, happy if Kohli scored but India lost. So what if the nation has lost? Their hero has scored, and that is the end of the matter. How dare Head get into an issue with Kohli? It means his family will now get dragged into it.

There are now fake accounts purporting to support Head, which are being used to abuse Kohli and his loved ones. This is equally pathetic and reprehensible, and no doubt a section of Indian ‘fans’ are behind it. For them, this is just another opportunity to vent against their pet peeve – Kohli.

There was Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid before Kohli and Rohit Sharma. And Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev before them. But we haven’t seen such toxic fan wars as we see now between Kohli and Rohit fans. And in all this, there is one loser – Indian cricket.

It is time to act against these trolls. Stop this once and for all. Peddling hate is the new India we are seeing, and that’s not the idea of India we stand for. It is not what we believe in, and we will not tolerate this as a society. It is a handshake in a match that is in question, and there will always be a winner and a loser. It has nothing to do with one’s family, wife or daughter, and anyone who violates this norm is either delusional or not fit for civilised society.

Second, and this is a seriously dangerous trend, people have started to feel entitled to say anything and get away with it. After all, social media is faceless. Over time, social media has become a domain of unmediated abuse, and that is the worst it can descend into. While this is outrageous and vulgar at one level, it is alarming at another. It shows the deep anxiety and anger that people carry, and it is as if we always need to do things that are expected of us. We have let this persist for far too long, and the social media discourse is a reflection of what we have gotten ourselves into.

As real supporters of the game, you need to stand up to this and stop it. For only then are you truly fans. Otherwise, you are merely trolls and scum.

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