Sport
provides an opportunity for international contact
both at the level of competitors and, in much larger
numbers, of spectators. Where there has been a redrawing
of political boundaries, often through war or bloody
partition, the peoples involved may find sports matches
a medium for reconciliation and redefinition of personal
allegiances. Having reviewed the difficulties faced
by the International Olympic Committee over the years
and the strange anomalies that have arisen with divided
countries, the article offers a systematic review
of cross-border sport tourism in the case of cricket
matches between India and Pakistan. The Test series
of early 1955 is used to illustrate the reactions
and reflections of spectators in a situation where
there was the first mass cross-border contact following
a period of severe confrontation which fell just short
of war. The more recent Dil Jeet Lo (Win Hearts) Tour
of 2004 is then reviewed, including the political
preparations which enabled it to take place and the
problematic nature of ‘stage-managing’
this first sustained encounter for fourteen years.
The article then considers whether such sporting contact
between spectators can offer the potential to promote
a longer-term peace and its concomitant reconciliation
process. With reference to frameworks of reconciliation
theories, it concludes that while such contact may
be a catalyst for inter-personal reconciliation, the
overall level of reconciliation will be dependent
on broader issues such as the nations’ political
will to achieve reconciliation. |
