Noise or Rejoice?
In the absence of a live audience, the football and cricket Premier League organizers are now resorting to the use of fake crowd noises during these times of pandemic. Is it a convincing substitute to become the new normal in the times to come?
When the football matches and IPL{Indian Premier League}matches started again then there was a sign of joy or happiness among the people. It brought back a feeling of nostalgia and made them believe that things are going to get back to normal just like their favorite sport did. This was a step ahead towards rebooting and a world after the pandemic.
The use of fake crowd noises during the games was similar to the times when T.V shows tended to use the sound of fake laughing in the background, to sound funnier. In these unprecedented times when everything around us is so gloomy, and sad the crowd noises for a moment made the audiences feel like they were physically present there in the stadium but nothing can definitely beat the absence of an actual live audience and their cheering. The effect of this on players had been two-folds, some players did feel motivated and energized but some players felt like they were being interrupted in their game. This happened because for every goal scored, or every wicket was taken, or a six was hit the same recorded crowd cheering was being played which made it boring and brought everyone back to reality.
If the recorded noise was not being played in the background then players felt that it was just another practice match where there was no audience, no cheering, and no motivation or encouragement. In an interview, Virat Kohli had mentioned the fact that after his Ranji trophy days this was the first time in all his years of playing cricket that he could hear the echo of the bat hitting the ball.
This was decided by the organizers of all the teams in order to boost the morale of the players. This was the main message that they wanted to communicate by their actions. While they have tried to adapt to the online version of communicating but the message is not being positively decoded by the audiences. Some have given positive feedback while some are still not very happy with it. Although the organization has been supportive of the feedback given by different spheres of people. It seems to take the form of upward communication but unlike every other organization feedbacks is just for the satisfaction of its employees, the organization hardly tries to work upon it or inculcate the necessary changes.
I think the organizers have done their job pretty well when it comes to encoding the message that they wanted to send across in this context but since there is both a support and a black lash towards this decision there seems to be a problem that lies somewhere in the decoding of the message. In these times of social distancing, I would not be surprised if this actually becomes the new substitute in the coming times. Yes, I do agree with the fact that nothing can beat the live audience experience but with changing times, all of us will also have to adapt. We can definitely bring back the live audience in the picture like old times once the effect of the pandemic is slowly disappearing. But this seems to be a hope for a brighter future that seems to be very far away.
