- June 17, 2025
Celebration parades, confetti, loud cheers, and fans lining the streets—it’s what IPL dreams are made of. But what if that celebration becomes chaos? Well, that’s exactly what happened in Bengaluru when Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) finally ended their trophy drought. From what should’ve been a memorable moment of celebration, it turned tragic, where a stampede during the celebrations ended with the death of 11 fans and injuries to many others. Now, the BCCI is getting involved- and it’s about time. Let’s look into why this has been needed-and also overdue.
Celebrating Responsibly: The Need for Guidelines
Let’s be blunt—IPL teams do fire every shot in the gun, should they think of a party after winning a title as well they should, it has months of intense cricket crammed into a few weeks, and a lot of intensive locker room bonding, last-minute comebacks, and heartfelt excitement to draw upon for a celebration so it makes a certain amount of sense. However, when an open-air parade becomes a flash mob riot, it’s clear something is amiss.
The RCB victory parade was a perfect storm of masses of people, no crowd control, and an emotional fanbase that had waited a decade for a trophy. While the level of maniacal hysteria is understandable, the actual execution was not. No proper barricading, insufficient crowd management personnel, and a cavalcade that had not taken a realistic approach to the consequences of a live celebration meant that the celebration became a disaster.
Unfortunately, the BCCI is (finally) getting a clue here. I have heard they are compiling some kind of definitive guidelines for teams to direct their parties and simultaneously protect fans and bystanders alike.
Striking the Right Balance: Spirit vs. Safety
How do you put guardrails on raw emotion? In India, cricket isn’t just a sport—it’s part of who we are. Victory parades are more than celebrations; they’re emotional reunions between teams and fans. The challenge? Keeping that magic alive while making sure it doesn’t turn into chaos.
This is specifically the issue the BCCI is attempting to navigate. BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia had suggested there would be “formal guidelines”, but not ones that dampened the occasion. By which he presumably meant, specific routes for the parades, time-tabling events, designated areas for crowds, ticketing for victory events, and better informing the police.
It is complicated, but not hopeless, to regulate a gathering in a country where spectatorship can approach political rallies. Just think about the precision of regulating an unmistakably planned event such as an IPL opening ceremony, or a World Cup match; one could only imagine how victory parades would be regulated with such standards.
A Bigger Picture: Setting the Standard for Sports Events
While anticipation and excitement were the triggers for the new guidelines soon to be released, the incident in RCB is the case in point. The IPL is on track to be one of the most popular sports leagues in the world, and if the BCCI implements successful protocols, it could set the international standard for dealing with post-event euphoria.
And it’s not only the IPL. There is a large local post-match celebration for domestic matches, winning locally/locally, and for under-19 tournaments in India specifically. If they can get this sorted, this will set a good international set of protocols for any sporting events in India.
The domestic season, commencing in September with the Duleep Trophy, might be the first to drive in some of these changes, given that venues and dates are about to be confirmed. That is, this isn’t just talk, but is (fingers crossed) about to happen.
Should sport governing bodies across the world be considering how we celebrate wins, or is this an India-centric problem? Let’s keep the discussion going.
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