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Can/should politics be kept out of sport? On this day in 1988: Indian cricket tour 'cancelled'

'English cricket captain Graham Gooch and seven other members of his squad have been refused visas to travel to India.
The banned players - all of whom have played in South Africa - were due to take part in a tour to the subcontinent this winter, but it is now almost certain to be called off.

The Sports Minister, Colin Moynihan, said the Indian Government's decision could have serious implications for international cricket. But Delhi has defended its policy and the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth said they should be applauded for the ruling.

Graham Gooch's appointment as captain of the England team by the Test and County Cricket Board (TCCB) was considered controversial because of his rebel tour to South Africa in 1982. Kim Barnett, Alan Lamb and Philip Newport were placed on a UN blacklist for playing in the republic last winter. The other four players - John Emburey, Robert Bailey, Graham Dilley and Robert Robinson - were already on the list for previous playing in previous seasons.

India's High Commissioner in Britain said the news should not come as a surprise. "Our commitment to various resolutions and agreements, to UN policy and the Government of India's policy with regard to apartheid is well known," he told reporters.

There was no comment from Graham Gooch, but his team mate Mr Barnett admitted they were not expecting the Indian government to refuse their visas. Chief executive of the TCCB Alan Smith said the move was "bitterly disappointing". The board now face the difficult task of arranging another tour at very short notice.'

What lies beyond?

Beyond the physical universe we see around us, the apparently solid matter made up of atoms and molecules, tiny points of energy, orbiting, vibrating, with vast spaces between, empty but for electric, magnetic, and gravitational forces, and even smaller particles which flit in and out of our world and our time, invisible, elusive. What we perceive as solid is mostly space. Space and energy. And what we see in our 'solid' world is but the tip of the iceberg.

What lies beyond?

Other times, other places, other universes, other energies, other states and levels of being? Is our 'solid' world an illusion? Is it simply a construct of the energies of infinite universal thought? Thought is energy. Consciousness is energy. All is energy. Is everything - life, thought, perception, space, time, memory, experience - simply nothing but the organised connected apparent chaos of energies, infinite and eternal?

And when we finally leave our limited physical world, we move on to - what? Nothing? If so, what is it all for? But, but, if there is something more, something beyond, if our conscious awareness moves beyond the physical, as do those tiny sub-atomic particles of energy, what vistas may open up before us!

Quite a sobering thought that 99.9999999% of all matter is empty space and the majority of the rest is massless energy. And to top it all off, of all that which is massive in our universe, the vast majority of it is invisible to our technology.
It's so baffling and out-of-this-world that astrophysical science is one of the most powerful indications of the existence of God, simply because an enormous beardy guy on a cloud is the less absurd explanation of the two.

Matt.

Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion.

Democritus

chunkygull wrote:Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion.

Democritus

I exist so that's bullsh*t! :na:

There's more empty space in my head than in the entire universe.

That's your opinion Andy... :~D

Who's Andy?

Nobody if he doesn't exist.. :na:

A beautiful woman without virtue is as a flower without fragrance..

Gullscorer wrote:A beautiful woman without virtue is as a flower without fragrance..

But they're a lot more fun than women with virtue!

Jerry wrote: But they're a lot more fun than women with virtue!

Until they start stealing from your wallet, or falsely accusing you of rape...

When the truth is your enemy, you’re going to lose. It’s just a matter of when..

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.

Abraham Lincoln

I can't remember the exact quote (nor to whom it is popularly attributed), but we were always told that an observer may judge the worth of a man not by how he treats his superiors, but by how he treats those over whom he has command. I've seen some really good guys utterly destroyed in a matter of weeks by being promoted into a position where they have command and control over their former equals.

I generally try to live by this. Command and control comes in all forms. It can be as simple as knowing something which someone else does not. Hence my penchant for teasing people about their spelling and grammar. Sadly, with the advent of the internet, we find that people do not always receive teasing in the spirit in which it was intended. Indeed, it is often the case that the 'victim' is not the one who takes offence, but a third party who feels moral indignation. We usually see that these crusaders are those who struggle most to make constructive contribution and feel the need to take vicarious offence to cover up their own inability to join in.

Matt.

The main problem on the internet lies in a lack of clarity in communication. This is true of all written work, but particularly in what are often hastily written internet posts, where there is no visual body language to indicate the mood, tone, or intended meaning of the author.

It can even be a problem where people are face-to-face, ostensibly speaking the same language, but in most cases, if people approach such interchanges in the right spirit they will arrive at a common understanding as to the intended meaning and whether or not it is teasingly jocular or deadly serious. This becomes even more important where one person is in a position of power.

Greater care needs to be taken in writing internet forum posts, and indeed e-mails, to ensure that one's mood and meaning are clear, otherwise misunderstandings can arise. A good example, Matt, is your jocular remark on the 'Happiness and Suicide' thread. I dread to think what the effect of that remark might be if it were to be read by somebody who was genuinely depressed or suicidal.

It behoves all of us to stop, think, and check our work before hitting that 'submit' or 'send' button, thereby committing our comments and messages to permanent internet publication..