The Day We Killed Bob Woolmer

``It reminded me of a Hollywood movie where Sidney Poitier tames a group of cynical students.``

The movie was called ``To Sir, With Love``.

The movie was about respect; giving it and earning it. It seems that Woolmer repected the fact that he was seconded by Inzamam and Inzi was making all the decisions. Woolmer respected his degraded position, but the question is did Inzi respect the words of a coach who only wanted the best for his team and including his captain?

Zarrar, I am not a doctor by profession but I have known many incidents of heart attacks that were preceded by vomiting and in fact, vomiting and nausea is a sign of an impending heart attack. Your conclusion on the poison scenrio was in poor taste.

On GEO, this morning, there was a news item on the Pakistani cricket team`s defeat and people, on the street, were being asked their opinions. There was this man and in Punjabi he said Woolmer`s death was sad because he died in place of a man who should have died!

Ciao

Re: # 30

``On GEO, this morning, there was a news item on the Pakistani cricket team`s defeat and people, on the street, were being asked their opinions. There was this man and in Punjabi he said Woolmer`s death was sad because he died in place of a man who should have died!``

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How pathetic is that Geo TV presents all the non-sense before International audiance.

``I along with many believe he was poisoned..``

Should have at least waited for the autopsy results before making this claim.

Rest of the article was a nice tribute to Bob Woolmer. He did a remarkable job in keeping the focus on cricket and improving the team`s performance, especially in Tests. And, PM is right, Woolmer was not bothered by the team`s religious activities. He did not interfere and stuck to his job.
From the England tour onwards, repeated injuries to key key players depleted the side. And then, the Oval fiasco, the captaincy mess and doping scandal, all made it difficult to keep the focus on cricket. Woolmer must be credited with trying his best given the unusually trying circumstances. A very sad ending for a good and decent man. may he rest in peace.

This calls for an autocratic yet a short tempered and authoritative person above all at the top like Imran Khan.
I would have said too of him being short tempered, but finally this calls for a purpose from his side.

Pakistan Politics and Cricket present the same view and facet. Both are riddled by gore politics.
Waseem Bari, the head hunter for players refuses to resign. Why?

Its high time, one and all should realise, Imran had the potential to drive the cricket team to the top. And he has to drive the country as well.

If ever we listen as a nation.

#15 by khuram,

I agree with you re ``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.

But you must also acknowledge that it was a `b` team. Without your main penetrating attack bowlers who would have knocked out Ireland in below a hundred on that bouncy wicket, and without Razzaq to anchor when top and middle collapsed, what kind of result did anyone expect?

The only thing I blame is the structure of domestic cricket in Pakistan. I`m sure it will be redesigned now on the lines of county cricket with a constant stream of talent so that backups are always available like the aussies or the brits.

Re: # 20

urstruly,

that was in poor taste, even for a tableeghi ............shame on you and the camel you rode in on .......

Re: # 24

yes I know your phuppha is dead but tell me what monkey knows about good and bad taste, hain?

Author,

It doesn`t take a genius to figure out heart attacks don`t cause vomitting.

Are you kidding? Severe Nausea is one of the symptoms of an impending heart attack.

Noone killed Woolmer. It was his heart condition. Noone had blamed him for the loss, and he had the choice of not even returning to Pakistan because as far as I know his contract was only till the WC. It was unfortunate timing. That`s all.

The lack of sensitivity and callousnes shown by some people here is very disappointing.

My murder conspiracy theory is that, Woolmer was assassinated by Indians. They hired a sikh assassin for that purpose; who killed Woolmer after the Pakistani team was already out of world cup for obvious reasons. It has been pointed out to Indians time and again that sikhs make bad assassins and intelligence operatives. Remember two days after 9/11 Indians started screaming that their plane was ``missing``. It turned out later that the whole debacle was caused by a sikh intelligence operative who was ordered to place a bomb in the plane and jump out of it midair using a parachute. When the time came the sikh-007 put his parachute in the toilet and tied the handbag containing bomb around his waist and jumped out of the plane, for obvious reasons.

Re: # 20 Urstruly

Lolz...truly, good theory. Great.

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.

Re: # 17

I think extremist tableeghees were not behind woolmer`s murder becuase if they were they would have committed suicide-poisoning and half of the team would have been dead as well. The forensic evidence has all the hallmarks of a secular crime - the vomit, the blood on walls, and subject found in toilet....the works you know.

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...???