Feeding the Trolls in the Cricinfo Comments: Part I
by Devanshu Mehta
Here is Part 1 of my attempts to feed the trolls in the Cricinfo comments. [part 2]
On Samir Chopra’s inaugural blog post on his new blog The Pitch, Geoff Plumridge comments (UPDATE: it gets better, Mr. Plumridge responds in the comments below too):
The ashes as a pinacle is no myth mate. You other johnny come latelys can only dream of heritage like that. When Billy Midwinter bowled Australia to victory most Indians had never heard of cricket. WE built this international game and the rest of you people only rode on our coat-tails. Remember your place in the history of the game.
∞
Dear Geoff Plumridge,
Thank you for the coattails. To demonstrate their gratitude, the BCCI will allow you to ride their coattails until 2015. In memory of your place in the history of the game, the BCCI will create a museum exhibit honoring you next to the Aztec, Lost City of Atlantis, Titanic and dinosaur exhibits.
Thank you,
Devanshu Mehta
P.S. The Indians had beaten England in an away game around the same time as Billy Midwinter. Have you not heard of the extraordinary late-19th century team of Bhuvan, Mukhiya, Kachra and Lakha?
Deep Backward Point 
[…] Previously: Feeding the Trolls in the Cricinfo Comments: Part I […]
My point (missed obviously) is that the game is an English one. And it is part of my heritage (read not yours). The original pinnacle of the sport will always be England v Australia and not any of the other johnny come lately’s i.e. SA or WI or IND. We don’t really care a whit whether any of you other johnnies agree with this fact.
Interesting that any time anyone stands up for our culture (the great one that created and spread the sports of cricket & football), one is either a troll, a racist or an anachronism. I am obviously not supposed to be as proud of my ancestors as other people.
My point is remember where the game came from, and give thanks that there was an England to give you people cricket in the first place.
Oh and by the way, no official MCC side toured India until the 20th century. The tour led by George Vernon was not even considered first class. I was under the impression that cricket in India was mainly a Parsi recreation that sprung from the Bombay gymkhana set up by the British army. Most rural Hindu & Muslim Indians were still playing native Indian sports involving branches & twigs when Billy Midwinter bowled in the first test ever.
But then, what do I know? I’m just an ignorant racist.
1. Remember, I didn’t call you racist. You just did.
2. You missed an awesome joke about Lagaan. You should watch it.
3. “johnnies”, “remember your place”, and “branches and twigs” don’t help your case.
Thanks for visiting.
Which “we” are you referring to Mr. Plumridge? Certainly not this English cricket fan (admittedly one who bought Lagaan as a Christmas present for his wife).
You are the most awesome English cricket fan, in that case.
David,
English cricket and Cricket in general would love more fans like you – thanks. Loved your response to Mr. Plumridge 🙂
But arguably the worst husband.
Australian actually..
Oh and there is a native Indian game that pre-dated cricket involving branches and twigs, it’s called “gilly danda”. My my that chip on the shoulder (and accompanying inferiority complex) really is 1 billion people wide isn’t it?
“chip on the shoulder,” says the guy clinging to 130 year old glory.
Just got the reference to “Lagaan”- I’ve never seen any Bollywood films but I’ve heard they are pretty good. I read books and actually play the game not watch movies about it.
130 year old glory? Does the idea of the Raj still sting a bit? Cricket is still an English game propagated internationally by it’s penal colony Australia. It was a sad day for the sport when the MCC relinquished control of the game, only to see it monopolised and bastardised by corrupt Indian ex-politicians.
Nothing good has come from sub-continental cricket, Ranji excluded.
Blimey. I will tell you one of the reasons that I love cricket, and especially test match cricket – people from a dozen or so nations can cheer for their country but also through it enjoy the culture, company and cricket of other people. Is that naive idealism? Almost certainly. The likes of Cricinfo, blogs and internet streaming allows us mediums to do that better but also create online shouting matches (and god knows, reading Cricinfo comments there are enough Indian nationalist types shouting everyone else down). By the way Geoff, a couple of books I enjoyed reading and can heartily recommend are Simon Wilde’s biography of Ranji (http://tiny.cc/vhx4e) and A Corner of a Foreign Field (http://tiny.cc/2fmvu)
Best,
David
David,
All good mate, I’ve read A corner of a foreign field but not the Ranji bio. (I don’t really think that cricket-wise everything bad comes out of the sub-continent, just seems that way lately)- it just seems with the wind blowing so strong from one corner it seems worth the effort to blow back, even if I do come across like a bigoted moron.
Cheers
Geoff
Wow Mr Mehta is that all you have to say after setting up a whole web page based around one paragraph I wrote on cricinfo? Pretty weak really.
You’ve shown your cards. You lost. “Nothing good has ever come from sub-continent cricket”. That can have no rational response.
I’m closing comments here. It was a good run, but it’s run its course. Mr. Plumridge, if you want to continue correspondence, email deepbackwardpoint@galaxyfaraway.com. I can even publish it here, if you’re up for it.