Freeloaders play havoc with match
A common complaint heard during the Kanpur Test was that the security personnel and the government servants had more guests than there were genuine ticket holders on all four days. The size of the crowd on the first two days left the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association wondering whether it was possible to lose money in staging a Test against the West Indies. The high guarantee money and rising costs of conducting tests make them a bigger gamble than they used to be. It is reliably learnt that the menace of freeloaders was very grave.
Ticket holders found it difficult to enter the stadium through a security cordon that had for too many personnel. Those holding high-priced tickets found to their dismay that their seats had been taken after they had taken the trouble of getting through the massive confusion that existed outside every entry point at Green Park. Tragic: It is a matter for regret that a young man should lose his right foot in a stampede. The guardians of the gate were so cruel that they made a charge on those trying to enter and closed a steel gate in such haste that the youngster, holding a ticket to the test, found his legs caught in the metal work and his right foot got amputated on the spot.
The crowd itself was composed of so many bad elements that fielders on the boundary were pelted with all available missiles. The plight of photographers taking up positions at ground level was far worse. A shower of stones and bottles threatened their expensive equipment. Some aggrieved photographers took an aggressive stance in walking on to the field of play and holding up the game. Madan Lal’s request to the crowd in the two-tier gallery at the far end of the ground seemed to have had its effect as the spectators spared the photographers the missiles, using only those of the verbal variety to keep up a barrage of unedifying criticism.
Absurd chauvinism: Television commentators have lodged a written protest with the Information and Broadcasting Ministry against the highhanded manner in which an official of Doordarshan, Lucknow, changed the pattern of commentary, insisting that the relay should begin and end with a voice-cast in hindi.
The normal pattern had been to begin with Hindi and English on alternate days at all centers. The English and Hindi commentators felt the officials action was unauthorized and a needless chauvinism. Cross exchange! Pressmen were caught in the crossfire of the row between Kanpur Telephones and the UPCA. In a press note, the UPCA stated that the chief of the telephones demanded 183 passes for his officials and operators.
The UPCA further said. It was willing to oblige provided the telephones produced identity photographs of the 183 who were to be photographed. The request was refused. A consequence of the Telephone’s’ boycott of the match was that the telex machines, which are the lifeline of pressmen, went unmaintained since it is the technicians from the telephone . department who tend to the P and T telex equipment. On its own initiative, the P and T staff repaired the ‘dead’ machines and offered whatever service was possible to myriad pressmen from India and abroad.