What to Make of Roger Federer’s Weird Controversy with India and Pakistan

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: February 21, 2015

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Roger Federer probably had no idea that a photograph of him holding India's national cricket team jersey would set off an international incident. 

Now that the world knows, the whole thing seems sort of weird. 

Sports fanaticism reaching the ridiculous is nothing new. However, even in this social-media age, the uproar over Federer rooting for a cricket team is beyond absurd.

The outrage among some Pakistani fans was so disproportionate to Federer's actions that at first it seemed farcical. No way were true life-long Federer fans giving him the boot over this. 

Oh, yes they did. The Husni Shafqat tweeted his disappointment regarding Federer's actions:



Federer posted the picture with the team jersey to his Facebook page. Then he tweeted it with the hashtag #bleedblue, a reference to India's team colors.

Fans of the Pakistani cricket team, which India defeated Sunday, took offense. 

 

The backlash was swift. Threats were tweeted. Diehard Federer fans vowed to remove his posters from their walls.

One longtime Federer fan felt so strongly about the incident that he wrote a lengthy editorial, "Dear Federer, why would you choose to bleed blue?" in the Express Tribune, an Indian newspaper published in conjunction with the International Herald Tribune.

The writer, Sulaiman Ijaz, wrote about how he and other Pakistani tennis fans were hurt and disappointed by Federer's actions. 

I did an informal poll of the dozen biggest Pakistani Roger fans I know. All very serious fans, mind you. Two of them were not bothered by the picture. But 10 of the 12 felt seriously hurt or betrayed. Six of those 10 said you had acted “like a sell-out” and have stopped supporting you altogether.

Sellout? This implies that Federer is trading something, perhaps his integrity, to find favor with...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

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