Those abusing Anwar Ali aren’t sports fans; they’re scum

Soon after East Bengal lost 1-2 to Kerala Blasters on Sunday night, a mini-mountain of abuse was directed at Anwar Ali. Not that I was surprised. But what made it further distasteful was that it did not stop with Anwar. People started abusing his family. His mother and wife, and everyone else, were also dragged in and the slurs kept piling up.

It brought back unpleasant memories. And a sense of outrage. I know what it is like to be subjected to this kind of abuse. I know how it feels when your mother and wife and daughter are targeted unfairly.

Sample some of it:

“What’s your mother’s and wife rate going on ‘Red light area’ now?”

 

“What’s your mother’s rate going on in Sonagachhi now?”

 

“Ohhh!! your mother gives her black ****y to everyone for free now!!”

The point is that anyone who posted these messages can’t be a sports fan. In all honesty, they are scum. Exactly the kind of people that pollute social media. These are delusional idiots who hurl abuse from behind a veil and get away because there is no mediation. And it is because of such people that social media is fast turning into a cesspit. A rotten pit with little respectability.

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Yes, Anwar made a mistake. In sport, every person who has ever played has made mistakes. If a team didn’t make a mistake, the other team would never win. Anwar isn’t the first or last player to make a mistake. But then, why is the abuse directed at his family? How is his parentage being questioned, and why are his mother and wife being dragged into it? October 10 is World Mental Health Day. What impact will such abuse have on a player’s mental health and his family? Needless to say, he will be feeling the pain of defeat. And now, this. Anwar, at the end of the day, is an Indian national team player, and perhaps the best we have. To say things like these could well mean we lose him forever.

To everyone who is invested, and this includes fans from both East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, kindly show restraint. Sport, more often than not, teaches us how to lose. Anwar, like everyone else, will get better and play better. And also, fail better. That’s how sport is. As fans, it is our responsibility to celebrate sport and not pollute it. Not make ourselves small by resorting to doing things which we can’t even own up to in public. Any one of these people, if pushed in front of Anwar, would not be able to utter a word. In fact, we could even see them asking for selfies or an autograph. And that’s where social media needs to get better.

That’s why a social media trial is a curse. For people sit in judgement with pre-conceived ideas and feel they are entitled to say or do anything. It is a very lynch-mob mentality and that’s why it needs to be stopped. You cannot let such abuse be heaped on someone and stay silent. We need to identify the perpetrators and get their accounts suspended. For, whatever they are, they can’t be sports fans. And this is where the clubs need to stand up and show solidarity. Protect the player and make it a point to tell fans that nothing of this sort will be tolerated. We have seen Mohun Bagan and East Bengal come together. They need to do so again to stop this rot from turning into a terminal disease.

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