Paul Lewis: Sport will prevail - in the end

It's been fascinating watching and listening to reaction to the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricketers.

Most media commentators have trumpeted that the attack will change the face of sport, as it is the first time since the 1972 Munich Olympics that sportspeople have been targeted so directly.

No, it isn't. What about Eric Rudolph, the Olympic Park bomber who killed two people at the Atlanta Olympics of 1996? What about Peter Record, Charlie van Rennen and Tim Arnold?

Never heard of them? They were just three of the 202 people killed by a terrorist bomb in October 2002 on Bali. They were among the eight from the Singapore Cricket Club rugby section who died in that bombing. They played for the team that I used to coach and occasionally play for.

Bali was hosting a rugby 10s tournament - in which I was supposed to play but decided against because of work pressure - with teams from all over Asia-Pacific.

The bombing was cynically targeted at the night clubs in Kuta which would be heavily frequented by visiting players. One was placed in a car outside, the other behind the counter of one of the clubs. The explosion was devastating.

The bombings were blamed on the militant group Jemaah Islamiah, widely regarded as a regional affiliate of the al-Qaeda network, but several key suspects have never been caught.

However, three of the bombers - Imam Samudra, Amrozi Nurhasyim and Ali Ghufron (Mukhlas) were convicted of charges relating to the bombings and were executed in November.

Amrozi was the best-known, labelled the 'smiling bomber' when he appeared laughing before television crews following his arrest and because of the way he giggled with delight when talking about the bombing, shocking and angering people around the world.

Throughout his trial, Amrozi smiled defiantly and chanted slogans. He grinned broadly as the judge read out the guilty verdict and then punched the air and turned around to give the thumbs-up sign to the courtroom as he was handed his death sentence. He said "a million more Amrozis" would follow him.

None of the executed men ever expressed remorse for the attacks.

Australian media ran articles detailing how Amrozi, in spite of all his previous bluster, was pale and afraid when lined up in front of the firing squad.

So what are we to make of all this? Simply that sport is, and has been since the murderous Black September strike of 1972, a terrorist target. The wonder is that terrorists haven't taken advantage more often.

Security at major events like the Olympics has been toughened but the fact remains that event-based terrorism is still eminently possible.

Acts of terror based around softer targets - as we saw with the Sri Lankan team bus travelling to its next port of call; and at the Sari Club in Kuta, Bali, in 2002 - is much easier.

The zealots and the martyrs, whatever their faith, still have and always will have opportunity. We cannot place security cordons around all sport, from the Mt Wellington under-12 netball team to the Black Caps. Can't be done.

It's also too knee-jerk to ban all tours to all dangerous countries. Security - supposedly at 'head of state level' for the Sri Lankans in Pakistan - will be beefed up all over the world and across various sports. That is as inevitable as it is sad.

The essence of sport is enjoyment. People play it and watch it for the excitement, the exhilaration, the drama, the joy of belonging, ambition, the tragedy and the triumphs inherent in winning and losing; the pleasure of being close to sporting idols. Shame if much of that is blocked out by a security blanket.

Some have said what happened in Lahore is the death of sport. No, it isn't. It isn't even the death of cricket, although it might be sick for a while. Some tours to dangerous countries will not go ahead - although cricket's politics may prevail.

India owns world cricket right now and, in spite of the Mumbai terrorist attack recently (an incident where 179 died with many similarities to the Sri Lankan bus attack), few cricket countries will feel they can refuse an Indian invitation to tour, especially when threatened by the ICC's Future Tours programme and heavy penalties which accrue when you don't do as you are told.

It is time for a more sensible approach to world cricket tours.

Meanwhile, we all know that the Tim Arnolds, Charlie van Rennens and Peter Records will never get 'head of state' security. People will continue to play and watch sport because they enjoy it.

Sport is its own reward. It generally involves people who are competitive by nature but who know the value of teamwork or the talent-effort-reward equation. Many of those who experience that kind of pleasure never lose their taste for it. That is why sport is such an ideal target for the terrorists.

It is also why it will overcome the evil, even after Lahore and horrors yet to come. It grows companionship and unity. In the Bali bombings, members of rival rugby clubs pitched in, searching through charred and disfigured corpses to see if they could track down survivors and to help end the torment for those waiting at home.

In Singapore, woken by the Sunday morning call, I rushed into the club and found it full of grieving sportspeople - Chinese, English, Malays, Indians, Australians, Irish, French, Dutch, Scots and Welsh. It was a wake, of sorts, transcending political and ethnic barriers.

That's what sport does. All we can do is to trust that the positive emotions, focus, drive and achievements of sport and sportspeople outlasts and outweighs the terrorists. The best thing to do is keep on keeping on.

There will be more Amrozis; maybe even millions more, as he claimed. But the Records, van Rennens and Arnolds and the unity in that bar in Singapore that Sunday morning will prevail.

In the end.