Sportsmanship in the bhangra scene

[Waleed]

Before anyone starts ranting about why I'm beating a dead horse, just take an advil, have a cup of cha, sit down and breath. I would just like to discuss this issue in a positive manner and approach this issue as something that concerns the bhangra scene (not specific teams).

Regarding the recent Bhangra Masti 3 incident, I've heard several versions of this, I don't even know what really happened anymore. From what I can put together there was poor sportsmanship on stage but I heard it was even worse backstage where verbal obscenities were being hurled around (again, I wasn't there - this is what I heard). Regardless, lets not make these 2 teams the scapegoats in this issue. There are plenty of other teams, who I have seen over the year, that act unprofessionally and have displayed poor sportsmanship at bhangra competitions.

The "this-is-none-of-our-business" approach is exactly the reason why there is such an aggressive climate in the first place. A lot of bhangra peeps are completely hands off on this issue and are too afraid to lose friends or call out other people close to them. I don't think of if it that way, rather I think this is something that concerns all of us in the larger NA bhangra family with the interest being our youth. Youth from all over North America, is now developing an interest in bhangra at a much earlier age. They look up to established teams and emulate them. Do we want to foster the notion that 'throwing a rant if you disagree with the placings' is ok and excusable?

Bhangra is not a sport where you score definite points based on 'number of touchdowns or home runs'. Rather, the allocation of points is up to the judges which will always leaves room for disagreement. Unless, we hold ourselves accountable and ensure that we behave professionally if we disagree with the placings - expect to see more instances of poor sportsmanship. I personally think, that once you sign up for a competition, you automatically agree with the organizers' choice of judges and method of judging. If there was favoritism shown by the judges or unfair judging (which I'm sure happens all the time) - take it up with the organizers or post it on a forum like this one. Whatever happens, don't display poor sportsmanship in front of our youth. They idolize bhangra teams and they will also partake in this kind of behavior - it is our responsibility to make sure they don't.

Also side note - this makes me think about why competitive bhangra teams really perform bhangra? Is it really to promote our virsa? Or just for bragging rights.

 

[rajkaran]

WORD

awesome post!

Ima go have myself a cup of cha now...

 

[Saleem]

Waleed please send me a cup of cha post haste.

 

[Jeeti]

Waleed...I was just about to post something like this...AMENNN

Incidents like this make it apparent that some teams have the wrong intentions in mind when going on stage despite what is said on these forums...At first, I thought it may have just been a lack of maturity, new to competitions, etc..but now it appears to have grown into a monster....I have no respect for teams with such a lack of sportsmanship or respect for organizers...on stage? in front of the entire audience? Whatever objections you have...address them behind closed doors....

 

[Don]

Great post Waleed, I agree with everything you stated. It's especially a shame when an academy team is associated with this kind of behavior, I'm sure teaching future dancers how to throw a fit on stage is not a part of the curriculum...

 

[pritpal94]

Excellent post Waleed.
Sportsmanship is the key into making a good bhangra team, no sportsmanship no decent performances...
The thing that leads to this is when you have just done a performance and you go off stage and one member says "that was a sh*t performance".. This happened to us like sometime last year and it got into a really big argument. What you should do it say it properly like "not bad performance guys, some parts we were lacking but it's OK we can talk about it some time later at training"

I don't know if I am on the lines of the topic but I think this is what leads to arguments and bad sportsmanship in my opinion..

Ah, cha is ready now

 

[Pam]

lool cha!!

I agree Waleed, very well stated. It seems like this pattern of poor sportsmanship is occurring far too often nowadays.

 

[Meistro]

great post waleed! I too, agree with everything you said. Now lets all just drink a cup of love.

 

[zagreus]

I'm down for all of this!

I don't know how or why poor sportsmanship would exist in the bhangra scene. It's generally an all inclusive community, yet there are those that don't believe that's the case. It seems from what I've seen, before a show, teams get along well...like providing help getting people ready and giving pins or other stuff. But after the show, man...it gets crazy. Fights ensue and who knows what.

and waleed...i like the way you beat that dead horse

 

[ban3rg]

word man. very well said. and i really needed that advil

 

[gifty]

You want to compete? You have to deal with both sides, good and bad. Poor sportsmanship is shown in every single sport and don't expect bhangra to excluded from this. Although the Bhangra culture isn't as large as majority sports, at the end everyone competes to win. If you say you dance to spread "cultural awareness" go open up a workshop showcasing Bhangra and it's relation to the Punjabi culture.

Waleed, to answer your question real quick. Yes, more teams dance to compete not to promote our virsa. It is a COMPETITION!!! Not a charity event. Everyone takes losing differently and losing can be defined differently as well. Whatever happened in Toronto only those know that were there.

All in all, people are different. Some are more competitive than others. It's reality.

 

[Tarminder]

I'm down for all of this!

I don't know how or why poor sportsmanship would exist in the bhangra scene. It's generally an all inclusive community, yet there are those that don't believe that's the case. It seems from what I've seen, before a show, teams get along well...like providing help getting people ready and giving pins or other stuff. But after the show, man...it gets crazy. Fights ensue and who knows what.

and waleed...i like the way you beat that dead horse

Poor sportsmanship exists in the bhangra scene (in my opinion) because a few teams "might" be pressured by the old folks in the bhangra academies to bring home first place and doing whatever they can to get first place. Teams "might" be so fixated on placing first that they don't care about anything else, they may say they do care about the youth but in my opinion its all about bringing home the first place trophy. Furthermore, when an academy has a team that always comes in first they can brag about it in the local media and that may attract people to their dance studio and rack in the MONEY!

With that said, theres more good in the Bhangra scene than bad, most bhangra team are great to chill with and show good attitudes, i've been backstage at Bhangra competitions in Toronto and i do see a lot of goodwill showed by teams, Bulldawg Da Raaj, PPA, Punjabi Beat, Kohinnor are some of the nicest teams i've ever seen, they actually say "Please" and "Thank you" that alone blows my mind away (you might think this is odd for me to say but after communicating with live bhangra teams for the past 3 years you'll get my drift).

I know i "might" have minorly bashed the bhangra community i live in BUT there are some people in Toronto bhangra teams who are good hearted people who do give back to the community, some of them have given me life tips that have paid off for me, however, i feel they are pressured by the old folks in the bhangra academies and that does have an impact.


Kinnel, are you going to bash me on this post to (jk)

 

[Vick]

You want to compete? You have to deal with both sides, good and bad. Poor sportsmanship is shown in every single sport and don't expect bhangra to excluded from this. Although the Bhangra culture isn't as large as majority sports, at the end everyone competes to win. If you say you dance to spread "cultural awareness" go open up a workshop showcasing Bhangra and it's relation to the Punjabi culture.

Waleed, to answer your question real quick. Yes, more teams dance to compete not to promote our virsa. It is a COMPETITION!!! Not a charity event. Everyone takes losing differently and losing can be defined differently as well. Whatever happened in Toronto only those know that were there.

All in all, people are different. Some are more competitive than others. It's reality.

LTB.

I agree... But in professional sports, you are usually fined a couple grand for breaking certain rules... Whats the penalty in bhangra? Public humiliation? That shit obviously doesnt work... Not accepting a check in front of the crowd is a huge slap in the face to those who worked so hard to put on a show, how do you penalize teams like NJ and SGPD? or do you just brush this aside and say it's all about "competition" and shit gets heated every now and then... This isnt SGPD's first time either...

 

[yraparla]

Do you think there's a difference between independent teams and collegiate teams?

It's my personal opinion that bad sportsmanship is a coping mechanism, which is triggered when too much of one's identity is invested into the competition (as opposed to the team, or the dance form, or the friends). On college campuses, I just think people have too much going on in their lives to invest as deeply as independent teams.

Obviously, many on independent teams are older, with young families or just starting their career, so you'd think they'd be less invested than a collegian. But then again, we're not talking about all performers, just the ones that seem to have a problem with human deceny and courteousness. My guess is that their ego and self worth is tied into placing (again, not the team, or they'd respect their reputation and be gracious to others' hardwork).

 

[jvirk]

nice post waleed.

i think sportsmanship is veryyy key in bhangra...as well as in everything that's competitive..i do believe in some sort of smalll rivalry or maybe even big rivalry...but at the same time i believe that is 2nd to promoting our virsa...there is a fine line between taking a rivalry too far and also have a fair/fun/excellent competition...when u go nuts on stage in frnt of evryone b/c something didnt go ur way...thats wayyyy too far...fights as well are wayyyy tooo far...

just my 2 cents!

-justin
ecu muqabla

 

[Chidiya]

Someone might shoot me for this but I don't understand why people get so competitive with Bhangra..I'm sorry but aren't you guys suppose to be showing your love and appreciation for the culture and dance? There is more to life than Bhangra..honestly, I promise.

Cha upsets my tummy.

 

[Saleem]

Cha upsets my tummy.

Punjabi cha /at gurudwara is more milk and sugar than caffeine (not that i'm complaining at all). Dont be afraid.

 

[gifty]

Vic, it doesn't just happen in professional sports. Unsportsmanlike conduct is shown at even lower levels such as High School and sometimes even Jr. High or Middle school, and you can't fine those players a couple of grand. Fining a team like NJ or SGPD isn't easy, it would just create bigger tensions between the teams and possible Shan-E.

Turbo----Take into account, just like how you say a committee doesn't put up a show to showcase a bunch of individuals scrapping it out on stage, neither do the city's that showcase lower level sports. Also remember apne love to fight. It triggers something little to have them start a argument. Should one have to condone with this? No! Is it reality? Yes. You can hope to prevent these things by having people sign contracts and such, but the truth holds that it won't be stopped completely. For every good apple their is a bad one.

 

[gifty]

Turbo, banning either NJ or SGPD isn't a easy thing. The bhangra culture isn't as big as the olympics, anyone knows that. There are countless wrestlers that can replace one Greco-roman wrestler, not many teams can replace NJ or SGPD. Both teams attract HUGE crowds to a competition. It's easy to say...Ooo Just ban that team...it isn't as easy to do. There are so many risks involved. Things could escalate to higher levels.

 

[siddyp]

excellent thread. this expands on my pet peeve in bhangra.

We dance bhangra to preserve a culture and tradition. We go to competitions because we want to do more than just dance. Competitions are meant for teams to COMPETE. Just like anything else we do in life, there is always competition to see who's the best. We all want to be able to say to our children, "yeah i won a bhangra competition with so and so team". That's part of the reason bhangra teams are formed: To go and win competitions. In all levels of anything whether it be sports, job opportunities, or bhangra, there will be competition. In all levels of anything, there will be the cry babies (T.O.) , the trash talkers (Joey Porter), and the mature ones who show class and sportsmanship (Tony Dungy). No matter how long this thread goes, there will always be trash talking, fights, and low blows(check on stage) in bhangra. I think competition organizers should lay down such rules that would prevent this from happening. No one wouldn't sign an extra paper stating a no unsportsmanlike conduct rule which would have a team kicked out before, during, or after the competition. (stripped of their prize for after). Now that a lot of us have established our concern for this issue, the rest of us wont have much new to add. i feel that we should discuss ways in which competitions can prevent it. Any ideas?