Sporting triumphs pure as the driven snow

Leicester City’s triumph in the English Premier League is the finest fairytale in sport in a long time. It is a kind of story that serves to rejuvenate the very spirit of sport. All the scandals of the last few years in cricket, football and tennis — on the field and even more off it — has been stanched, for a while at least. This kind of 5,000 to one shot at the winning post makes you believe once again that the innocence of sport is not spoiled by any of the wolves in sheep’s clothing who may have spoiled its fair name.

The underdog winning the pennant has been part of sporting lore for a long time. It is based upon the same heroics that David brought to bear in his fight against Goliath, which everyone is so fond of quoting from out of the Bible whenever a sporting context fits the bill with the underrated athlete or team downing the favourite thought to enjoy all the advantages, the form and the talent to win. There is nothing quite like a long shot to make a good story.

Leicester’s win was quite extraordinary, perhaps, even more than the most generous odds of 5,000-1 because they had been assessed by the pundits who help bookmakers set the odds to be completely hopeless in the EPL field. They were a team who barely managed to keep themselves in the premier division from season to season.

Their spending on footballer salaries over an entire existence from the 1920s is still less than what Manchester City spent in the last three years in EPL.

While the odd upset stuns the world of individual sport, it is much harder to sustain a league campaign spread over several months and take the trophy. The world of sport couldn’t be happier than with these fairy tales popping up every few years to shake up the order established by the big clubs and their managers with carte blanches to buy which star they want from around the world, so much so, there is little English about the EPL as far as players go.

The grand upset in EPL takes the memory back several years to the fairy tale India staged at Lord’s on a sunny June day. It was the same sort of triumph that turned the cricket world upside down and made us believe all over again that the underdog achieves even more for sustaining the romance of sport than the great champion tams that mow down everyone in their path until another rich and more committed challenger comes along.

There was a tailor in Leicester who put on £5 on his favourite football team’s triumph and collected £25,000. He was one among only a dozen people who thought even a bob or two was worth laying on a fancy dream. There were probably more Indian cricket romantics, including yours truly, who backed India at 66-1 at the start of World Cup 1983. It was the kind of flutter that had to be taken when such luscious odds are on offer. There were race horse owners from India who put on a few thousand pounds since they could afford such a flutter.

The team itself did not share such optimism. In fact, one of the seniors had even planned an exhibition tour to the USA based on what he believed would be a quick and quiet exit after the preliminary league. The believers themselves would have lost the last vestiges of hope when Viv Richards was in.

All those silken boundaries made even the fielders believe an early ending was on the cards after India’s inadequate-looking 183. And then came that Kapil Dev catch and the rebirth of a sliver of hope.

On a scale of outsider sporting triumphs, Leicester City’s may rank higher than India’s. But there was a particular relish to India downing the world champion of Test and limited-overs cricket of that time — the unbeatable West Indies.

There is the same sense of relish to the Leicester triumph too, the underdog downing the big, big clubs of London and Manchester. May there be many more such fairy tales so that the romantics of sport may never have reason to stop dreaming, never lose their faith in the honesty and purity of sport.