The recent news about Kabaddi players being served food from a toilet went viral and shocked netizens but for those familiar with the Indian sports scenery, it rolled back the years. Most Indian athletes coming through the system can attest to the lack of facilities and terrible conditions they have to live and compete in, especially at age group levels. Staying in schools with classrooms converted into dorms, mattresses on the floor, and toilets with no running water, are fairly common stories across sports. Questions should rightly be asked as to why such experiences are so familiar and accepted within the fraternity.

The most obvious answer is that there is a lack of funding and corruption in the sports bodies that result in money being siphoned off, corners being cut, and books being cooked whenever such events are held. Indian media’s hitherto indifference to grassroots level games in the country enabled the governing bodies to get away with treating the athletes, their raison d’être, like nonentities. Since age group level matches were seldom covered by the media, authorities often got away with doing the bare minimum required to organise such events. This has a domino effect on the entire sporting system from the bottom up. Athletes who grow up experiencing this are less likely to raise their voices against it as for them it becomes the norm. They consider the relatively better treatment they end up receiving the higher up they go as a reward for their talent and not the prerequisite that it is for success in their field. Whistleblower athletes are few and far between due to this conditioning.

A deeper enquiry into the issue would reveal that there is also a cultural factor at play here. I have alluded to this before but Sports is not considered a specialised profession in India. Until recently there were no sports colleges or universities in India. The concept that a career in sports can instill in you the type of transferable competency that can be an asset in other fields is alien to Indian society. It’s taken 2022 for Hockey India to get its first player president. Athletes if they ever rise to administrative roles can seldom do so without political backing. This lends further to the notion that they are mere figureheads and not people with the agency or competency to take important decisions. The government of India reflects our society’s cultural attitude quite aptly by clubbing both the sports and youth affairs ministry into one ministry. We have various policies but no concrete and separate sports law that ensures our athletes their rights and entitlements. The Indian athlete is not explicitly defined as a worker either so compliance with minimum wage and other labour laws is hardly possible.

This is the fundamental contradiction at the heart of what ails Indian sports- an industry that requires the highest standards of human excellence not only physically but also in split-second decision-making in the most high-pressure environment with millions riding on the result is not considered a profession let alone one that requires among the highest expertise and commitment. This inherent bias in the Indian psyche had been trickling down to the way we reported on sports, the way we organised sports events, the way we treated our players, and the way we historically rewarded their achievements.

However, things are undoubtedly changing and officials are now being held accountable for their lapses and complicity. A big factor in this change has been the introduction of the Khelo India games. School and University games being telecast live on tv is a game-changer. It not only raises our athletes to expect a higher standard of organisation and facilities while competing, but the media exposure also keeps the governing organisations accountable. Families of young players also come to expect fair treatment and respect as a result of the way their wards are treated at these events. This will then translate to respect for the field and viewing it as a viable career for their children. Athletes from across social and economic backgrounds participating in various sports and not sticking to only the elite ones also help widen the talent pool and raise the overall competitive standard in the field. This will no doubt prove to be fruitful in the long run. Indian society is undergoing an attitudinal change that is reflected in the increased participation of women in sports, media exposure, corporate backing, and rising viewership of all sports events. India stands on the cusp of sporting maturity and it’s important to introspect and reform the existing societal biases that society may carry as it moves forward into this new era.