On the world map, the island nation called Sri Lanka might look like a minute teardrop beside India’s foot. But the people of this small nation have a big heart to love, accept and be passionate about the game of cricket. The bombshells dropped by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) from time to time and the ethnic conflict that has gone on since time immemorial has never really dampened the spirit of the Emerald Isle or its appreciation and enjoyment of good cricket.

The Premadasa Stadium at Colombo, owned by the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC), has borne witness to many an historic moment in the game. Be it the highest total score in Test cricket (952 for six made by Sri Lanka against India) or the vintage performances of Sanath Jayasuriya in both forms of the game, in Test (340 vs India) and ODI (189 vs India), Colombo has seen it all. But the support from the crowd has never been one-sided.

Many a time the Lankan Lions have roared on home turf, even against world champions Australia. But the islanders love good cricket, whichever country or player is involved. When the nation has so many local heroes to cheer – Jayasuriya, Jayawardene, Sangakkara, Vaas, Attapattu and Muralitharan – the fact that they respect and give credit to the skills and brilliance of their opponents is something special.

In Sri Lanka, opposing players can field fearlessly near the boundary. Nobody will be there to racially abuse them, as in Australia. Players like England’s Owais Shah, Kevin Pietersen, Sajid Mahmood and Monty Panesar can play with more freedom than they get at home or in Australia.

Packed galleries, noisy crowd, electrifying atmosphere … these are the characteristics of all cricket venues on the subcontinent. But there is something drastically different about the Sri Lankan crowd. Unlike in India and Pakistan, you will not find cricket fanatics who go berserk, whenever their team loses an important match. Burning effigies or posters and staging rallies are unheard of here whenever the team returns from a disastrous campaign. The fans are with their team no matter what, unlike their opportunistic Indian and Pakistani counterparts who give demi-god status to the players when they perform well and demand even their death when something happens contrary to their expectations and dreams.

One such stunning example, which distinguishes the true passion of the Lankans for the game from their cricket-mad Asian counterparts, is this. In 1999, when Wasim Akram and his Pakistan team came home after losing to Australia in the World Cup final, they were welcomed not with garlands and bouquets for their achievement of reaching the final round, but with burning posters and violent rallies in many places.

The mindset of the public at that time was very evident from one of the many protest banners, which read, SEND AKRAM AND HIS BOYS TO KARGIL, a reference to the deadly armed conflict going on between India and Pakistan that year. A World Cup final loss was too much to bear and they would have been happy to send the players to their death. Can this be called passion or love for the game? Can there be a more suitable word other than ‘madness’ to describe such wild behaviour?

On the other hand, last year we saw a Sri Lankan team return from the 2007 World Cup with a similar experience. They were garlanded, hugged, kissed, patted, congratulated and proclaimed as HEROES. The Lankan supporters enjoyed each and every moment of their team’s presence in the mega event. They cheered them on until the very end and consoled them when they faltered in the final with the grand welcome they gave back home, not forgetting to give credit to the winners, Australia.

This is what true passion is all about. Building temples and worshipping the players when they perform and tearing them apart when they fail to shine hardly reflects the true spirit of the game.

Also, leaving the galleries when the team is on the verge of defeat or trying to demoralise the opposing players through riotous behaviour is not in the spirit of the game.

Sri Lankans have shown to the rest of the subcontinent, and to the world, how to enjoy a sport and not to take it as a war, where there is a huge difference between victory and loss. The islanders are truly passionate cricket fans first, and then Sri Lankans.