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Pakistan take celebrations too far

Pakistan coach Shahnaz Sheikh ran towards the players, slapped his second-choice goalkeeper Amjad Ali and ordered the rest of them to vacate the pitch.

No Love Lost: Pak’s Md Tousiq gestures to the crowd after the game.

At the end of the four quarters, there was little doubt that the better side had won the India-Pakistan semifinal. However, as the thousands at the Kalinga Stadium walked out disappointed, the visiting side’s brilliant counter-attacking hockey that destroyed India wasn’t something they were talking about. Instead, it was the Pakistan players’ obscene and expletive-laden celebrations.

Moments after the hooter sounded, Pakistan players broke into wild celebrations. They waved their shirts provocatively, flipped the bird and indulged in several other unmentionable obscene gestures and, all directed at the partisan crowd. It went on for nearly 10 minutes. Initially, those in the stands responded by applauding the team’s performance. However, once it got out of hand even they hit back.

Pakistan coach Shahnaz Sheikh ran towards the players, slapped his second-choice goalkeeper Amjad Ali and ordered the rest of them to vacate the pitch. But by then, the damage was already done.

Sports minister Sarbananda Sonowal, SAI director general Jiji Thomson and International Hockey Federation president Leandro Negre were among the spectators who witnessed Pakistan’s celebrations, described as ‘distasteful’ by India captain Sardar Singh.

Later, after a volatile press conference in which Sheikh and Pakistan captain Muhammad Imran staged a walk-out, the latter’s comment that, “they (Indians) can’t even digest our win” added fuel to the fire.

The FIH ordered an immediate investigation but tournament director Wiert Doyer let them off after Sheikh issued an apology. “I spoke to the head coach of the Pakistan team, Mr Shahnaz Sheikh and told him that the behaviour of Pakistan players went beyond what is acceptable to standards of the FIH,” Doyer said in a statement.

However, he added that it was difficult to ‘find any particular miscreant’ and decided that no further action was warranted. “The behaviour in question concerned many members of the Pakistan team. It is difficult to find any particular miscreant, and it is possible that the behaviour of the players may have been a reaction. Mr Shahnaz Sheikh has apologised and assured me that this behaviour will not occur again,” Doyer said.

India’s high performance director Roelant Oltmans said: “From whatever I saw, I thought they went a bit too far,” he said. Sardar too disapproved saying: “Congrats to them for winning the match. But such celebrations are unwarranted. There were families here. The kind of gestures they did were bad. We have beaten them before but never done any such thing. It just leaves a bad taste.”