Why aren't teams pulling out of Champions Trophy with ongoing UK Terror attacks

It all started at the Ariana Grande’s concert held in the city of Manchester on 22nd of May 2017. The city houses one of the most historic cricketing ground in the cricket by the name of Old Trafford stadium. Many enthralling matches over the decades has been played on the hallowed turfs on the ground in Manchester.

Ariana Granda, a renowned pop diva, concluded her show successfully but a British Muslim extremist had other ideas to steal the show. The suicide bomber detonated a shrapnel-laden homemade bomb at the exit of the arena after the show which killed as many as 23 young adults and children, injured 119 others. 23 remained critical after the attack.

The United Kingdoms was shocked to see the devastation and could hardly recover from the attack before yet another attack hit the state just before the much hyped India-Pakistan match scheduled to be played at Edgbaston. The target this time for the extremist was London, which is also hosting a Champions Trophy presently. Few terrorists rammed a van in London Bridge and stabbed as many as 6 people to death by the loud chants of “this for Allah”. A total of 48 people were injured during the attacks later around 10 pm of 5th of June.

Ben Stokes went out to have dinner at Leicester Square and later had to navigate past the affected areas of London Bridge and Borough area of the city. Though Ben Stokes was not stranded for long and made his way back to the hotel soon. However, The International Cricket Council was quick to ensure if all the players taking part in the Champions Trophy were safe and sound.

Now, the question arises as to why the teams aren’t concerned about players safety and pondering about a pullout from the tournament in the wake of frequent terror attacks by the so-called Jihads. How is it different to the situations in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, and Kenya, where the players have previously pulled out of a major ICC tournament citing security concerns.

Blast from the Past

In the 2003 World Cup co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya, England pulled out of their league match against Zimbabwe scheduled to be played at Harare.”The England Cricket Board has notified the International Cricket Council that it will not play its match scheduled for Harare on 13 of February 2003. The England Cricket Board has cited its continuing safety concerns for its players as its reason for not meeting that commitment.” said Malcolm Speed, who was the then CEO of the ICC.

Following England, it was New Zealand’s turn to pull out against Kenya this time citing the same reason. “The information received by the ICC security delegation to Kenya made it clear there is a tangible terrorist threat in Nairobi and the Board has seen nothing which changes that.” quoted former New Zealand Cricket chief executive Martin Snedden. Both England and New Zealand had to give their points in the process to Zimbabwe and Kenya respectively.

It is a well-established fact by now that Pakistan is out of reckoning when it comes to hosting international matches is concerned especially after the terrorist attacks on the Sri Lankan players. The last piece of international action the historic Gadaffi Stadium at Lahore saw was when the likes of Mendis, Samaraweera and Jayawardena were airlifted from the stadium. Even after 8 years post the horrific incident, no team is ready to tour Pakistan.

The state which was once a hub of international matches in and fixtures in Karachi, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Faisalabad were keenly followed, is now only etched in distant memories. Pakistan Cricket Team had to seek assistance from neighbouring countries such as UAE and Qatar to host their home matches and their domestic franchise competition known as Pakistan Super League.

In recent history, the Australian Under 19 team pulled out of World Cup which was held in Bangladesh, which is a regular to host international action, as the board remained circumspect of the security conditions in that part of the world.

Why the Hypocrisy?

These instances remain crucial when we look at recent ongoings in and around the Champions Trophy in England. What marks as safe for the players? What are the threshold for a pull-out of a country in a major event? Is this a case of hypocrisy when it comes to a member of the Big 3? Why aren’t teams pulling out in the wake of the ongoing Terror attacks in the UK? These are some of the questions which ICC needs to answer. One thing which can be confirmed is that had these attacks occurred in any other part of the world, England and Australia would have been the first one to pull out of the tournament.

Ian Chappell recently stated that he would feel more secure in Islamabad rather than in London presently. “We have only been here for a few days, but we are probably safer here in Islamabad then we are in England at the moment. That is the question that we should ask the cricket administration, alright you are not coming to Pakistan because of dangers, but now what are you going to do with England” said the legendary cricketer and commentator while talking in PTV Sports ICC Champions Trophy transmission.

Pakistan would be the country which would feel the hurt most. On one hand, ICC has been reluctant to host matches in a country based on an incident eight years back. On the other hand, players are allowed to feature in a tournament where extremist are killing people in broad daylight in the neighbourhood. Some sort of universal yardstick should be established to decide on these aspects. As of now, the third world countries are suffering the brunt of rampant global terrorism.