Woolmer had an
Indian Identity
Amid the palm
trees of the West Indies, there was only one question being asked:
Was Woolmer, a familiar figure in the green and yellow uniform,
murdered? His father, a businessman, was a leading amateur player
and the hospital where he was born in Kanpur, India, stood opposite
the town's cricket ground.
Now
Death of another Bob in World Cricket Cup
As happened on March 21: Former Irish Cricket
Union president Bob Kerr died of a suspected heart attack at the
World Cup. Irish assistant coach Matt Dwyer said on Wednesday that
Kerr died during the night "from what we believe was a heart
attack."
"He was with his wife on holidays and spent time with the fans,"
Dwyer said. "We last spoke to him after the Pakistan match and he
was in good spirits. He wasn't in ill-health."
Dwyer said Kerr's wife called hotel staff in the middle of the night
and he died on the way to the hospital. Kerr was an executive board
member of the Irish Cricket Union and chairman of the North West
Cricket Union. Kerr was in his mid-60s, Dwyer said.
Babloo shows
Dawood’s hands
Giving a new turn
to Bob Woolmer's death under mysterious circumstances, underworld
don Babloo Srivastava has said that D-company head Dawood Ibrahim
might have been involved in the suspected murder of Pakistan cricket
coach, Sahara Samay sources said.
Talking to Sahara Samay, he said that Dawood is the biggest fixer of
international matches. He further said that Dawood might have put on
stake huge sum of money ranging between Rs 400 to 500 crore.
Was
Woolmer wanted for murder?
World cup is
going on in the West Indies which was involved in match fixing as
disclosed by the Mumbai police few days back. Pakistani Cricket team
has come in the news for its involvement in the match fixing.
Pakistan and Dubai are the heaven of underworld.
Giving poison in
the food and cold blooded murders in the hotels and under world
involvement in the murders of every good bad including Bollywood,
builders, businessmen and others is the repetition of old story.
Cricket player or match fixer may wish to kill but they themselves
can’t do this. So possibility might be that murder was executed by
an aide of the don with the help of a servant in the hotel or any
cricket player.
It is right that
cricket is a game of uncertainties. Winning games are lost on the
signal of a match fixer in the hands of another best team. But this
is the first chance in the history of the World Cricket Cup
tournaments that Pakistan and India were defeated by the weakest
teams Ireland and Bangladesh respectively. These defeats might be
artificial or the effects of co-incident.
In third empire’s
judgment Indian cricket team could take breadth. But no body wants
to give the benefit of doubt to the Pakistani cricket team.
Was Pak match-fixing mafia behind Bob's death?
The
sport's ruling body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), which
set up a specialist anti-corruption unit it the wake of the
match-fixing scandals, is dumb up till now on the death of Woolmer.
Former Pakistani pace man Sarfraz Nawaz said: “He had little doubt
that the ‘death’ of Woolmer has been a conspiracy hatched by the
underbelly of cricket and the ICC-held events are havens for
match-fixers. ICC is actively promoting it,"
Sarfraz openly claimed that captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, along with Rana
Naved-ul-Hasan, Mushtaq Ahmed, Mohammad Yousuf and Shoaib Malik were
involved in betting.
Sarfraz said, so powerful were the bookmakers that they were
actually helping appoint coaches, managers, selectors and even board
officials in different countries.
Is
Sarfraz Nawaz ‘Sarfira (wong)’
The suggestion
would be immediately dismissed as outlandish were it not for the
succession of match-fixing scandals over the past decade, in which
leading players have been offered large bribes by shadowy bookmakers
on the cricket circuit.
In 2001, Lord
Condon, the former commissioner of the Metropolitan Police,
concluded in a report that corruption was endemic within a small but
significant number of players in the game and referred to claims of
criminal activity, including kidnap and murder, among powerful
bookmakers.
A year earlier,
the South African captain, Hansie Cronje confessed to his
involvement in the largest match-fixing scandal in the sports
history.
He admitted
taking bribes of up to £150,000 ($416,000) a time to throw games
from a man introduced to him by the Indian captain, Mohammed
Azharuddin.
Both men were
subsequently banned from the sport for life.
Woolmer was South
Africa's cricket coach at the time and a close friend of Cronje,
although there is no suggestion he knew anything about the bribes.
It emerged
yesterday that Woolmer was working on an updated autobiography
shortly before his death in which he wanted to give a "warts and
all" account of his time in Pakistan, where he spent up to five
months a year, as well as previous scandals in cricket.
Cricketer-Bookie
nexus
A
former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official on conditions of
anonymity has made a disclosure that the deceased coach Bob
Woolmer’s forthcoming book, “Discovering Cricket” may have exposed
the cricketer-bookie nexus in Pakistan, India, and South Africa.
The Bodyline
series, South Africa's refusal to allow Basil D'Oliviera, a
non-white, to be part of the touring England team, the Packer
crisis, and the match-fixing scandal have at various times rocked
the foundations of cricket, but an allegation of murder is a first.
The shadow of
betting haunted Woolmer during his career as coach, first in South
Africa when Hansie Cronje confessed to match-fixing, and now in
Pakistan.
Andres Escobar, a
member of the Colombian national team, was shot dead after scoring a
self goal in a World Cup match.
Unholy nexus of dons and bookies
There is
speculation in the Pakistani media and generally in the subcontinent
that Woolmer might have possessed some revealing facts about match
fixing and betting surrounding Pakistani cricket.
If that was the
case, could the Pakistani defeat have angered the bookies and the
underworld? And could Woolmer's death be linked to this in any way?
The
bookie-underworld nexus is a known fact and this is something the
police has had to keep an eye on on a routine basis.
Bookies find it
hard to work without the blessings of the underworld dons who are
key players in the betting game.
Says Mumbai Crime
Branch's DCP, Detection, Dhananjay Kamlakar, "Almost all the big
bookies are supposed to have links with the underworld."
Additional CP,
Deependra Pathak says, "Any kind of connection, profane, criminal
cannot be ruled out. Certainly anti-social elements are involved."
While the police
may not officially confirm it, it's evident that bookies who take
and place bets on behalf of the underworld and openly enjoy
underworld patronage, or else, how would you explain transactions
worth crores of rupees through Hawala across the border. Speculation
is rife that in this World Cup too that bookies will go to any
extent to make
Woolmer quotes on Pakistan and his coming books
In the final
posting on his website, late Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer said that he
was "disappointed" over reports in Pakistani media that tried to
"disrupt team spirit" during the World Cup.
"We are also very disappointed by the articles trying to disrupt
team spirit appearing in our press in Pakistan, and would ask those
who read this to ignore the drivel!" wrote Woolmer in his final
'Diary' item on Friday.
In an interview
last year, Woolmer said: "[Pakistanis] have a very critical culture
and some of the criticism the players get is too harsh. The country
has grown a critical culture but they should grow out of it."
Sarfraz said that
Woolmer was about to spill the beans on this syndicate in a
forthcoming book. Did the books become the reason of murder?
Madness in March is taking place in cricket
Cricket consists
mainly of England and its former territories such as Pak, India and
West Indies, and it becomes the question of life and death many
times. This also happens in other games such as football. Cricket is
taken so seriously in Pakistan those members of the Pakistan Cricket
Board report directly to the country's president. India is also not
behind for this. Her in India politician fights each other to lead
the Cricket board. Buddhdeb Bhaattacharya and CPI (M) party
interfered in the past. Rajiv Shukla of Congress and Pawar of NCP
are giving their services to the cricket.
The English
invented the sport, but they are having problems of their own.
Members of the team went on a bender after losing to New Zealand and
were partying so much that one of their star players had to be
rescued from the sea during the early morning hours.
Games of Gentles
becom the bloody game
In1972 Munich
Olympics when 11 members of the Israeli contingent were gunned down
in the Games village.
That massacre was
fallout of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Passions have always run
high in football. Countries have gone to war over the game.
Changing loyalty
in the matches
These games are
reached in such a stage where people change their loyalties also.
Few persons
mistakenly give more preference to religion of the player instead of
his nationality. Such as in some events in the past few Muslim
fellows began to jump to see the victory of Pakistani team. Like
that Communists would jump to see the victory of China. This is very
dangerous tendency if we are hesitating to call it anti-India
behavior. I am a live witness when majority comrades were working
for China at the time of India-China war. This tendency is now in
the Congress for Italy because their present President is an Italian
origin and future President is Italy born. In the past there was a
World football cup competition. At that time Congressmen in Patana
worshiped football for the victory of Italian football team to keep
it in the temple in the front of the photo of Sonia Gandhi. They are
silent for Quattrocchi because he is the family member of their
Italian origin leader.