Mar 08 2018.
views 17497Big matches have collected thousands of fans and become a mainstay of Sri Lankan culture. Fans of the match aren’t simply schoolboys and old boys, though, because The Big Match is in actuality a celebration of school culture masquerading as a cricket match. Far from being a stuffy affair, it’s usually a stadium-wide revelry raging in the sunshine; the bowlers begrudgingly allowing batsmen to score in the middle of the oval are essentially one gigantic MacGuffin, an excuse for fellowship, good old-fashioned rivalry and a whole lot of fun.
One set of fans that are often overlooked, however, are the girls! Why exactly are girls drawn to a cricket match featuring boy’s schools in the country? I cannot presume to speak for all girls, but after talking to a few I discovered some basic reasons.
Like father like daughter
For a number of girls, their dads are loyal old boys and this love for the big match just catches like some sort of hereditary disease. It’s a fun way to bond, an inescapable dinner conversation that for once is actually interesting, a generation gap bridged. One girl fondly recollected that her love of the big match started because her dad was Royalist, and then it became a way of life.
The jumping…
My first experience with boys jumping into school was of confusion and an unexpected cloistering sans teachers that allowed us Grade Sixers to riot in the comfort of our own classroom, oblivious to the rivalries and general purpose of this jumping business. Fast forward to my last year, and I had the pleasure of an unparalleled view of the action, on the third floor with our principal herself chuckling at the boys being chased to the low wall that separated the school from the outside world. We watched the boys desperately scrabbling over the wall, losing rubber slippers in the process. Almost every girl I spoke to has a story like this, of boys falling over each other to either get into the school – or out!
The hype!
The Big Match has the Cycle Parade (where the cycle to truck ratio is something like 1:10 to be honest) and beyond literally stopping traffic, it’s difficult to breeze past the hundreds of boys waving flags from trucks, cheering and altogether having fun without being infected by it. If you’re going in the same direction as the parade, however, that’s another story!
It’s something our friends like
If you have a lot of friends from the schools involved it can be impossible to escape the conversations, speculations and plans being made to actually attend the thing. If you can’t beat them, join them right?
Of course, the match itself!
After the exciting build up, the match spans several days with the Cricket itself twisting and turning (unless, of course, the dreaded ‘thattu-ing’ to drag the match towards a draw happens!). The music is loud and inviting, and a general fun atmosphere pervades the stadium. While many girls already have filial loyalties, quite a few have no skin in the game which means they can have fun with whatever outcome. It also has to be admitted that the Big Match is reportedly a great place to do some boy watching! In general, Sri Lanka has a great atmosphere at cricket matches, and this one is no different!
So in conclusion, I would say that girls enjoy boys making a fool of themselves, while also respecting and enjoying the deep history behind the series, carving out space for themselves as fans, daughters, sisters and spouses. No girl has ever played in one of the matches (or attended either school for that matter) but they’re still there, supporting their friends and family and most of all – having fun!
6 Comments
Vatsi says:
Mar 09, 2018 at 12:48 pmThis is a very sexist article!! Why can’t you focus on the sexism involved with big matches? Why can’t you highlight bit more about efforts schools can do to neutralise gender plays in the society. Honestly how are we going to bring gender neutral society with articles like this.
Mark says:
Mar 15, 2018 at 05:18 pmThen pls encourage girls schools to go trucking inside boys schools before their matches... That's gender neutrality for you.. LMAO
H1n1 says:
Mar 09, 2018 at 02:02 pmIdiocy, plain and simple..
concerned says:
Mar 16, 2018 at 10:28 amthe sad part is jumping into girls schools and harassing or ragging girls troubling people on the road only happens during the battle of the so called blues or in another way of naming it the battle of two reputed schools this never happens in other school matches its pathetic state of affairs and nothing to bloat about but we should be sad to what our high ended society or kids of reputed school turn out to be, i think the school matches held in what so called village schools are well disciplined
Silva says:
Apr 04, 2018 at 03:31 pmOh come on... take a chill pill and get over your jealousy. Of course no other big match can match up to Royal-Thomian...it's a legendary event and only those affiliated with either school in some way can understand it. The rest of you can only stand on the side and wish.
DLankan says:
Apr 09, 2018 at 11:07 amSome boys jumping into girl schools, and some girls liking it is a lack of discipline of both sides. Apart from that the fact that a minority of the school population behave in a foolish way does not justify to write articles to justifying the acting as having mere fun. There have been many scenarios in each year where the parades have obstructed general public, and in certain occasions leading to harassing young girls. There may be families who fancy big match fever, but they have to be conscious enough not to disturb the peace of fellow citizens, else they are just a bunch of ignorant fools.