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This past week, the Mumbai Indians won the Indian Premier League (IPL). And over in England, there was much non-celebration over Chelsea’s emphatic Barclays Premier League title win.
We witnessed something which, I suppose, could be considered natural if the famous “circle of life” were applied to the world of sport.
After the feeding frenzies that are transfer windows, and the preseason hype in various marketing and media channels, we will have gone full circle, only to reset and see the process repeated, to much forced fanfare.
This is the nature of leagues, the consistency of which is probably what attracts fans and spectators, year in and year out, comfortable and safe in knowing that, come next season, their teams will be there to entertain them and keep thoughts of their humdrum existences at bay. It’s what Karl Marx meant when he famously said religion was the “opium of the people”. And as we all know, sport is the biggest and fastest-growing religion these days.
What’s more is that, as seasons begin up north, they conclude down here (with the exception, of course, of the Premier Soccer League, but that’s fodder for a different column altogether).
For example, while the England cricket team get their summer under way against New Zealand, the transfer window lies wide open on the South African domestic season as players return from the IPL. This week, ESPN Cricinfo reported that Quinton “Quinny” de Kock and Wayne “Parnyboy” Parnell will be moving from their respective domestic franchises to, one would assume, greener pastures. This is as the national team prepares to travel north to play in what I’d imagine to be the sweltering Bangladeshi summer.
After trying to create a bit of a stir around Quinny’s decision to leave the Lions, his home town team and the franchise at which he cut his teeth and “honed” his skills, Cricinfo’s Firdose Moonda went on to detail how the Cobras would be bolstered by Parnyboy’s arrival in an already formidable line-up, which includes the likes of Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Robin Peterson.
Moonda concluded by suggesting that, in spite of the Cobras having such a vast pool of talent to draw on, the playing field will even out for other local franchises, as “national players do not often turn out for [the Cobras] because of international commitments”.
But as we watch Parnyboy’s stock somehow snake upwards, seemingly inexplicably so, during the domestic off season, let’s remember that stock is only as valuable as what you put into it. I’m of the opinion that Parnell isn’t packing the kinds of vegetables it takes to make a hearty stew, at least not one the cricketing public are likely to swallow in a hurry.
So it seems the circle of life becomes more apparent when the game is put into a global context, where the bigger snakes go on to eat their own fattened tails throughout the year while the smaller ones offer apples, or indeed vegetables, to tempt sports enthusiasts away from their mundane day jobs. All in the name of entertainment and the theatrics that go along with it.
. @Longbottom_69 is an armchair cricket critic. He cries during and after watching The Lion King. Every time
