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So India is (almost certainly) out of the World Cup. Big bloody deal.

I love Indian cricket, and watching them play when they have a good day is really something special. What I dislike however, is the fickleness of their fans. Indian fans, by and large, are not cricket fans. They are only there to watch India win. When their side lose, they are nowhere to be seen. They are very much like many Manchester United fans I've met, jumping on the bandwagon of a winning side, without putting in the heartache and tears before the team became invincible.

It's a game, people. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. And that's the point. Sport is supposed to teach us how to win, and how to lose. Because there are correct ways to react when these things happen. When your side loses, you should accept it with grace, and with congratulations for the other side, for being better on the day. When you win, you should show dignity and decorum, and not laud it over the loser and rub it in. A good friend once said to me: "You have to lose to learn how to win. And you have to win to learn how to lose." That is profoundly true.

So India is out. Get over it. Enjoy the tournament for what it actually is - a celebration of cricket, the greatest game man has created. (Hey, The Economist explained why - but you need to be a subscriber to read the article, sadly.)

Indian fans have a bad reputation when it comes to supporting their cricket team. They take it far too seriously. And they just can't take losing.

At the semi-final of the 1996 World Cup, when India was losing to Sri Lanka, the fans set fire to the Kolkata stadium and ended the match prematurely. The match referee awarded the game to Sri Lanka, the first ever default in One-Day-International cricket.

At the final of the Asia Cup in Colombo on Sunday the 1st of August 2004, Sri Lanka set 228 and India collapsed when trying to chase it. At 119-5 Indian fans started to leave. I know, because I was there. Why walk out? If Sri Lanka were in the same position, I wouldn't have left. I'd have been there till the last ball, supporting my boys. I'm their fan when they have ups, and when they have downs.

If you can't support your side when they're losing, you don't have the right to call yourself a fan. Walter Winchell said, "a friend is one who walks in when others walk out." Well, this quote just as much applies to sports fans. A true fan is one who walks in when others are walking out. How dare you say that you support your team, if you're not there for them when the chips are down? That's when they need you the most!

The perennial excuse of Indian fans when India fails to play well is that the Indian players have taken money to throw the match. Why is it so hard to simply accept that you can't win every game? Not only is it statistically improbable, but it's just a fact of life. Sometimes you play well, sometimes the other side plays well. Sometimes you have the luck, sometimes you don't. 

And then you have the people who take not knowing how to accept defeat to a whole new level. Effigies and posters being burnt on the streets. People destroying the personal property of the players. The guy who had a heart attack and died when India lost to Sri Lanka.

To be honest, Pakistani fans are guilty of the same thing - and Bob Woolmer's murder does show that someone somewhere was taking cricket too seriously, again. If you want photos of Pakistani 'fans' protesting their team's exit, see here.

(As an aside, I read this interesting article as to how Sri Lankan cricket brings the nation together, which is somewhat heartening.) 

In the olden days, sport wasn't played like it is today. Players played - and spectators watched - for the love of the game. Won or lost, they went home happy that a good day's sport was played. Sportsmanship was a code of honour far more revered than the appeal of winning. It mattered not if they won or lost, but how they played the game.

Back in the day, a team would rather lose than cheat. A losing team would carry the victors on their shoulders and be happy for their win. Losing fans would shake the hands of the winning fans and offer to buy them a drink. Losing fans would watch the game to the last ball, supporting the team, even as the loss became more and more painful.

Sport has lost this ideal, this initial reason why sport was invented in the first place. Sport is now so commercial, so tainted by big money, that we have lost the code of honour behind sport. Sportsmanship makes us better human beings - yet for some it was cast by the wayside many years ago. 

This saddens me. Sport isn't just about winning. There is something magical about sport. Children's heroes, sizing up against each other, in an all-out contest to determine the victor. There will be blood, there will be sweat, there will be a stiffening of the sinews, there will be a victor, there will be a vanquished. But as the curtain falls, they will shake hands, perhaps even embrace, and revel in the greatness of the contest just completed. There will be tears, of both joy and sadness. But all who were there, players and fans, will stand proud and say, "I was there. We won, we lost, it matters not. What truly matters is that we played like kings. And as long as we play like kings, we shall die as kings."