The Day We Killed Bob Woolmer

quioin #13 there are no sects in the Quran, and as such those who ascribe to sects are not following the Quran. matter closed.

PM,

I am no supporter of such allegations like extremist`s influence etc. But try to think over your own post. Why Woolmer had to favor those beliefs which were not his own...??? Can a relaxed person do it...??? A relaxed person would favor his own beliefs. Your own statement is indicating that might be Woolmer was in some sort of stress due to extremists, due to which he could not openly express his own beliefs.

At the risk of prolonging the needless talk about the supposed ill-effects of the religious influence(s) on the team, I wish only to point out that in a tribute to Mohammed Yusuf, Mr Woolmer averred the former`s religious conversion, saying that Yusuf had gained a certain calm and balance that newfound spiritual centeredness often brings. (Not his words)

I remember his saying in another interview that the new religious-mindedness in the team was, on the whole, positive, for its fostering camaradarie and team-spirit. Can anyone doubt this?


So it would seem that the author`s contention that ``the group’s religious fervor and influence from the Raiwind extremists must have struck a nerve`` isn`t well-supported by Woolmer`s own statements.

It`s a little pathetic to be giving the man`s death a religiously conspiratorial slant, with no evidence as such.

Before the news about Bob Woolmer`s initial unconsciousness, Geo TV was constantly presenting very bad insulting remarks of common audiance about Bob Woolmer, Inzimam and others, including the team as a whole. Those remarks were not making any proper sense and sounded very bad to me. I didn`t watch the match with Ireland, but the highlights were showing that Ireland, although was a new team, but was not any bad team at all. One factor behind our losing the match might be that we under-estimated a good team. Now try to think about all those who were putting insulting remarks against individuals, including Inzimam and Bom Woolmer; were they also not committing the same mistake...??? Were they mistakenly not under-estimating a good Iresh team...??? Then for why they were so badly criticizing the team with third-rate insulting remarks. And why Geo TV was presenting those third-rate comments? I did not see other TV channels, but Geo TV`s behaviour was really very immature.

If we lost the match, then it means that we as a Nation also had lost the match. Why to blame only team? We should try to evaluate our own behaviours and attitudes also. If we are not mature in our thinking and we openly present third-rate comments against our own individuals before International media, then how can we be mature in stadium...??? What International audiance might have got the message out of such remarks that our team was better model than players? Obviously, we do not pay any proper respect to our ownselves. Why should others respect us then...???

Bob Woolmer, our Coach, has died. Now we should stop our useless criticism on individuals. We should take some care of self-esteem of those individuals whose talents have been internationally recognized. If their own nation treats them so badly then how it is possible that they can get any psychological strength, which is vital for their performance...???

Bring the best player before me. I shall tell him, ``You are bad player. You cannot play well. You are out of form. Your good days have gone. Your Coach is alien. He may not be sincere with you. Instead of playing, you should retire, etc. etc.`` ... and then let that player participate in World Cup match. My question is: What shall be his performance...???

I feel sorry for Mr. Woolmer. May God bless his soul. As a coach he was directly responsible for the pathetic performance of Pakistani team in WCup but not quite. The facts state for themselves that if a country cannot find a coach locally for its team then how polarized and politicized cricket is in that country. I grew up watching hockey and cricket teams of Pakistan; witnessing the time when both teams had all the world titles simultaneously. Then came in Sharjah circus, which gave rise to betting and speculating and since then everything has been downhill. Endemic corruption has eaten away sports as well just as every other institution in society. God save Pakistan.

tahmed ji:

Self flagelating is different than sheep sacrifice unless you take sheep as humans too and vice versa, but you had very onesidedly attacked shia ethnicism being a wahabi preached and hadeth and tafseer interpreter with your own set of biased mind!

However matter closed as you have shown disrespect to all ethnicites of islam and proclaimed yourself disbeliever.

quioin #9 . I am sorry if I offended your religious feelings. However, I find sunni customs (e.g. sacrificing of sheep in order to ``bribe`` Allah!!) and other ``muslim`` rituals (e.g. thinking that doing the hajj will wash away their sins) to be as ridiculous as self-flagellations of shias.

you write ``Show some truthful logic and donot burn fields if it reaps weeds. ``

Well said. The above-mentioned rituals are the weeds. The truthful logic is simple: take responsibility. Woolmer death (no doubt triggered by his depression at the loss) provides an example of such responsibility - where did this come from if not from his cultural background. We muslims can look to such examples to learn this ``truthful logic``, or we can understand the message of islam to learn this ``truthful logic``.

I hope this makes more sense to you.

Re: # 8
Sir, please refrain from making political statements. Write an article against intolerance and extremism elsewhere, and I will fully support you. But let this be a place for people to honour the memory of a good man. Thank you.

Great article -- worthy analyses and interesting recollections. What spoiled it, of course, was the conspiracy theory at the end.

re. the statement ``It doesn`t take a genius to figure out heart attacks don`t cause vomitting``, it would be fantastic if the author were half as well-informed of symptomns of myocardial infarctions as he is of cricketing subtleties. :-)

But thanks for an otherwise well-written, and `honourable` obit.

#3 by tahmed32 on March 19, 2007 4:42am PT

``Woolmer had a pre-existing heart condition I believe, and depression over the defeat took him over the edge. This is sad, and his commitment to his team deserves respect. But lets not get carried away and start falling on our swords or start self-flagellating (like the geniuses do on the streets on muharram). ``

Tahmed ji you donot seem to be that dumb toturn the topic of this thread again to religious sectarianism so much easily. Do you have any problem with the shias flagellating in the streets during moharram. Please refrain from manipulating this sports board to your inner meaness and culpritness which you show from time to time and do ethnic crimes. In that term you are no better than Zeemax, Catchy, kaptain etc. who have swords in their hands of religious extremism. Its not falling on swords but it shows our great sorrows and resistance against enemity and hatred.

Bob Woolmer death is really a shock. I hope the clarity of reports and tests tell was he under stress or was poisoned. In anyways it is really Shameful. We cannot deny incompetency of our team, poor leadership and religious conspiracies that affected the sports criteria in large. Show some truthful logic and donot burn fields if it reaps weeds. Sow something and then expect the effects of your cause. This religious baiting wouldnt make things better in your Pakistan sitting thousands miles away.

The way the Tableeghis were influencing the team you never know if some crazy Tableeghi puts the blame on a white christian coach who may be deemed to have a `bad` influence on the team`s faith? Could some Tableeghis be monitoring the team`s performance and then taking their `corrective action` after finding the weakest link.?
Anything is possible with these mullahs` sense of justice.
you never know if somebody like Danish Kaneria is next on the line!!

Re: # 6

Inzi;s resignation speech indicated this as much and the level of self-absorbtion present in the team members....sad...sad that they cannot respect a human being

It appears that he was the only one in the sqaud of suckers who had a sense of honor, the team does not even have the capacity to lose honorably and gracefully; he could nt bear the shame. Inzmam and others are thick skinned to feel much.

Bob Woolmer was one of the best coaches we ever had. He put his life and soul into improving Pakistani cricket, and barring a few one-day matches, his efforts did pay off in test matches. It is such a tragedy that this extremely likeable Englishman died for the cause of Pakistani cricket. My thoughts go out to his family. Rest in peace, Bob Woolmer. We will miss you.

Very interesting piece. I`m curious as to statements like, ``Pakistan needs an autocratic ruler...``, not sure whether these notions are based in anything more than opinion.

Woolmer had a pre-existing heart condition I believe, and depression over the defeat took him over the edge. This is sad, and his commitment to his team deserves respect. But lets not get carried away and start falling on our swords or start self-flagellating (like the geniuses do on the streets on muharram).