Now, Jaspal Bhatti auctions players

Calcutta News.Net
Saturday 23rd February, 2008 (IANS)

India's king of caricature Jaspal Bhatti and his Nonsense Club Saturday organised a sports 'mandi' (marketplace) here to sell players like cattle.

The sports mandi at the city's main commercial hub in Sector 17 mocked the recent Indian Premier League (IPL) auction of cricket players.

Bhatti put players from sports like hockey, football, athletics and even kabaddi up for sale.

'The minimum bid for a hockey player will start at Rs.50, football player for Rs.30 and kabaddi player for Rs.20,' Bhatti announced to mock the millions of rupees splurged by corporates on cricket players.

Members of the Nonsense club even sang parodies of old Hindi film songs to highlight the state of commercial cricket.

'Now players should only be playing for the money they get and not for the pride of the nation or for remaining healthy. We want to auction players like cows and buffaloes,' Bhatti said.

He demanded that all sports, which were not contributing to the brand value of industrial goods, should be immediately banned in the country.

He said that gambling and auctioning should be introduced as subjects from primary classes so that children can learn early about such things. He said that auction halls should be set up in all districts and cities to sell players everywhere.

'Any player from any sport who is unable to sell himself should be barred from all international events. Also players should perform depending on what they have been paid,' he said.

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