Afridi's homecoming marred by airport altercation with fan
Harassed, Asia Cup final man-of-the-match Afridi tried desperately to swim through the large crowds that had gathered to greet him. However, as he got to his car, where his young daughter Ajwa was waiting with a flower in hand, an eager fan accidently stepped on her toes. Unable to restrain himself, Afridi reacted angrily, pushing the fan away from the vehicle, and threatening to smack another.
“My emotions got out of control. My young daughter was there and someone stepped on her toes,” Afridi said while talking to ExpressNews on Friday evening. He also blamed security officials for not providing him an adequate escort. However he quickly realised that he may have reacted harshly.
“I realise I should not have done it,” he said, before issuing a muffled apology.
Earlier, while speaking to reporters at the airport, Afridi called for a long term strategy for cricket that focuses on strengthening the domestic cricket system, ExpressNews reported.
“We need a 10-15 year plan for cricket, invest in the youth, improve the domestic system,” he said.
Having picked up the man of the match award for the closely fought final match, Afridi praised the Bangladeshi cricketers “I felt like we were playing against Australia.”
He was quick to point out how the high profile domestic Twenty20 league had helped raised their standards, “due to BPL their talent has come to fore, and they played very maturely.”
Afridi also pointed out how his contributions continued to make a difference towards results of the National team. “When I do not bowl there is a difference. If i bowl well, we win,” he said in a matter of fact tone.
COMMENTS (78)
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Why not my comments of 23rd March could take place????????? Where they gone??????
There is marked similarity in this incident and that of Mrs. Waheeda Shah.She was penalised and is facing court cases. Now is the time to hear from PCB.No one is above law.Agreed that Afridi is a good all rounder of short format cricket------------ gentlemens game.
sir, whatever happened to my COMMENTS WRITTEN with great sincerity and loveable app[roach......sad!
@as: Exactly... every father would have done the same.....
Come on guys, people do get emotional when it comes to kids. We are talking about a great cricket player with a character.Afridi never fixed match as some of our cricketers did though I am sure he must have been offered something like that. By the way, it makes me laugh when I see comments such as" he should keep his daughter at home". What? Every kid wants to see her dad being loved by people.
not a way of happy home coming - a little organization and planning would have averted a situation where a 'hero player' seen slapping and shouting at 'fans'. a pathic secene.....!
@Giri: Yar. Why do u have to bring india in every news. Get a life man.
Afridi has such a big heart compared to Hindus. If this happenned to an indian cricketer, he would have blown the area.
The police really need to control the crowd. Afridi should not have punched and abused the fan because obviously the fan did not mean to step on his little daughter. But we all know Afridi cannot control his temper - he shoots first and asks questions later.
I am willing to cut afridi some slack because his little child was involved.
My question to all who are not supporting Afridi;
"how would you react when this happens to your daughter ? "
Why do we all need security so much in Karachi . This is Islamic republic of Pakistan Afridi should learn to forgive as the great religion teaches . people grow up why do we all get so excited for nothing . We will have to learn to tolerate each other , simple .
@SalSal: Not at all... but tell me did that fan step on his daughter's toes purposely... afridi should be dealt with sternly... this is not the first time he is crossing a line... it is just not on that you misbehave and utter the words ; i over reacted and realise i shud not have done this' enough... he is getting overborad...
Pakistani media........ufffffffff.
Err....it might have been an idea for the Afridi family to keep the 3 years old child at home: is this the first time Pak team has arrived back in Pakistan with similar chaos? Is this not the sort of reception the cricket team always gets at Karachi or Lahore airports? What chance did she have waiting for her famous/ infamous daddy, holding a single rose and waiting for a quiet hug ? Is it rocket science to figure out that she might just get her tiny toes trampled on in the usual melee that follows such arrivals? Is this not the reason that in the video you see not one person who is elderly, a female or a child? They all knew better! Can you chew on that instead Khan Jee? About ten years ago, I had to stop my angry friend from taking a swing at Afridi in Glasgow when we went to say hello to him while he was on the sidelines of a match between Pakistan and Scotland. That day too he turned abusive. Maybe I should have let my friend have his say that day - both of them might have turned out different!
I dont see his daughter outside anyways? then again the way our fans behave, a slap may have been well deservered.
I also laughed at the video clip by GEO who inserted sound effects. LOL
"Little princess" should stay home next time.
After all, it requires a 'Bada Dil' to understand the emotions of fans, to know that it was not intentional and there was no need to be violent in response... :P
First Afridi must stopped his family to come at the Airport as it was confirmed a huge crowd will be their to greet our cricketers. The person who stepped on her daughter could not bear the pressure of many peoples otherwise he was not made person to do so deliberately. Secondly, when Afridi realized the mistake, he must apologize the guy on media and now to get back his reputation, he must visit his area to compensate him. By this way he will earn more respect. Thirdly, I want to ask some peoples who are justifying the act of Afridi, what happens if a father of that guy he pushed was also present there. Should he also react on Afridi as he was also father like Afridi? Main mistake is Why Afridi did not stop his kids or family coming at the Airport. Was not it clear that lot of public will be there. On any cost if anyone even bigger than Afridi misbehave my son like this, I will punish him at the spot because I love my son more than he love his daughter. I must mention here, we have one Afridi and after this Asian Cup, there are many afridies in Bangladesh who are much faster than him. Therefore, he must maintain his attitude in future as any person coming to greet him has not only spend a lot of time but also money.
These unsolicited fans are so irritating. I wear sunglasses when going out for shopping.
Look at us...where are we going . are we a nation or just a HAJOOOM !!!!!
@Mirza: I don't blame Afridi at all. I think any parent would react the same as him. They should ensure greater security for celebrities at the airport to prevent this type of incident.
what a shame. he is proving that he has bigger hands then others also
I fully understand th reasons for Afridi's reaction. On a lighter note..... I am sure that day he did not use the shampoo he advertises!
Give Afridi a break, it is only natural what he did.
What a great role model for Pakistan !!!
wow! i just read some of the remarks here. Someone thinks he was wrong....thats interesting.
Im sure he didnt sign an agreement before signing up for national team which says his personal life can be trampled upon in any way.
if that is not the case he did what a common man would do......that's right, he is a common man. he didnt ask anyone to defend his rights, he did it himself. happy days! Seems like Pakistanis have messed up their definitions of human rights anyway...
well the word 'fan' for a Pakistani crowd is a bit misleading.... in our culture it's best to say salam and congratulate and be on your own way, since hardly anyone wants western manners of being fan and being submissive to the celebrity
he did great in the circumstances.....what a spontaneous punch that would have been. i hope no one got it on tape to make money out of it!
I have been following Afridi in the news and personal accounts from friends, for the past 15-16 years. He used to be an unruly youngster who has matured extremely well over the decade and a half. The Shahid Afridi that we see today is a very mature person (may not be very shrewd) and he has matured by making mistakes and learning from them.
Our media on the other hand is a different phenomenon altogether - getting more immature by the day. For example if a small cracker explodes in a tucked away corner of a bazaar, with no injuries to anyone whatsoever, our media runs an animation of what looks like a nuclear mushroom cloud rising from the entire district! Thats media sensationalism for you. The actual incident that took place at the airport is that: - Shahid Afridi was not provided any escort / security - Shahid's family including his little daughter was there at the airport, eager to meet her baba. - The mob that was following Shahid was excited to see him and was pushing and shoving to get to him. Someone pushed his daughter too. Being a father and that too a pathan father, Shahid's reaction is totally understandable. - I know that Shahid Afridi loves his fans and makes extra efforts to be present at even small events where he is invited.
We should all respect our heroes' personal space. On the other hand, I think it will do Shahid Afridi well to make a little press statement explaining what happened including a little apology to the pushed fan... and LALA ! PARWA MAKAWAI ... We all love you.
Pakistani media - (the sensational ones) --- Please GET A LIFE - jiyo "eeman" say!
So Younis Khan is the gold standard when it comes to treating a fan? Is this what you are claiming?
Regardless of who commits such vile acts, they must be condemned. I believe that we are better served learning this sooner than later.
Afridi has my full support on this one. He should kicked the idiot as well.
Go look up a video on Youtube of Younis Khan who was tripped by a fan at a match. Younis also slapped the fan and justifiably so.
I said it before, please learn to keep your emotions in check, whether its on cricket match or religious matter or a personal matter. Otherwise there is no difference between our nation and animals.
This is truly tragic. The "Great" Afridi has shown that he is not that great after all. He should have maintained his composure and dealt with the situation calmly in a much civilized way. That would have spoken volumes and shown his fans across the world right way of dealing with confrontation. However, I do believe that he is not be blamed entirely, after all, he is also the product of a society where confrontation is usually dealt physically. Afridi, I am ashamed of you and ashamed of myself for being your fan for all these years. I hope that you learn from this and apologize to the victim personally.
@PakArmySoldier : It is said that military intelligence is an oxymoron. Your comment made me understand why that is.
Unfortunately, our nation are a bunch of emotional & uncivilized idiots. If you go around trampling other peoples children, how do you expect them to react ? I see so many people saying that Afridi should not have done that. If that were your daughter, what would you have done ?
People should learn to keep their emotions in check and act civilized at all times. I have seen more order in a herd of cows than is apparent in this airport scene.
@Galib: Mirza is an angry person who blames the establishment and the SC for all of Pakistan's faults. First time he has picked a person, that too Afridi, who no fault of his own was trying to battle fans while the security for his protection was absent. Shame.
Afridi did the right thing, our media is an @$$ so as the uncivilized society. People should learn to respect some one’s privacy and space
Afridi did the right thing, our media is bunch is an @$$ so as the uncivilized society. People should learn to respect some one's privacy and space
Security?
@Mirza: later stage, wow? Think before making stupid comments
fans in pakistan need to realize a certain thing called 'personal space' ! if anyone swarmed me let alone hurt my daughter like that even i would get angry ! its the fault that no security was provided otherwise such an incident would not have happened. i do not blame afridi at all
Any father would have done the same so stop exaggerating it ET ..he's a national hero for sure and deserves respect for heavens sake!
Kick him out of the team and ban him from playing cricket
Thanks God!!! It was Afridi, not Misbah. Otherwise the media could have still running that sotry the whole night and even anchors could have been called out by the channels to start talk shows on "his cruel action".
violent behavior, hence world start to reject us
Guy who cannot control his emotions can not be a captain
Whatever...............I still love Afridi My HERO...
Good thing afridi did not bite his brains off...lol
The reaction of a father on such event is much anticipated but abusing someone with such unethical words is really unconvincing from a person of such stature, in my view he did more harm to his little daughter by abusing someone in front of a child like her, a greater care is required therefore.
If she didn't protect her daughte then we would have been writing, Look he's so busy with his fame and publicity that he even didn't care for her little kiddo. Common people have some guts and care for others life. Some times fans get so excited that they don't even care that the celebrity is also a human. So try to be at some distance. And security: You are morons.
Both Afridi in his Facebook statement and all new articles say it was "Fans" who caused his daughter to get hurt.
But then Afridi viciously attacked and assaulted one poor fellow.
Nice to be able to pick and choose your victims.
Afridi is committing crimes and using his celebrity to get away with them.
Corrupt man, Unfit father who couldn't even protect his child and was too busy beating people up.
He's a Cheat , Now's he a Criminal too.
The suspense leading up to "stepped on her toes" was disappointing. But, if the addition of her ending up on the ground is true, they deserved whatever they got.
I understand the daughter's love for the father and father's love but knowing his home town's public and know everything is, he should have asked his daughter to stay home. Things happen when there is a mass gathering. You cant blame for running into each other...Shahid Afridi is a lier...he is using all of this as an excuse...he lost temper and thats it..he has lied in the past on millions of occations..
the baby daughter was not shown by the media at ALL! they were quick to portray Afridi as some crazy guy on the loose :@ :@ the homecoming was "marred" by media itself!! towards the end of the video, while entering the car afridi presumably makes way for his lil daughter, but camera wouldnt (or couldnt) show her :@
Are we (the public) from the jungles ? as shown in this video ? where is the decency ?
Afridi did nothing wrong. Our irresponsible media should be blamed for blowing it out of proportion without reporting the cause of the outburst.
Where I can understand the protective instinct of a father, I think he over reacted. And instead of attending to his daughter he thought of beating a fan up instead of attending to her? I dont know what transpired at the airport. There would have been madness... with people pushing and shoving. Not a place where I would allow my child to be in the first place knowing full well the dangers of a crowded area. He was pretty vicious for an act that was accidental. What he did was very deliberate. Anyway, he's a great player and the media can be cruel. I hope the fan wasnt hurt too badly (although I cant say much about his pride), and so neither was his daughter.
ET, her khabar per nazar; good keep it up
He is not as out of control as the Pakistani Media!!
this also shows the immaturity of our media which is so "sensation" hungry that it doesn't even care to investigate before airing any news they come across, "breaking news" could be anything if earns viewership, And the most irresponsible news channel is the one that came up with the news before anyone through its jeenay wali AAKH.
any father would react the same if his sweetheart daughter is hurt and is almost under feet of crowds, Fans can be crazy but they must respect the fact that each player or any celebrity is also an individual and has personal life too.
@Mirza What do u want him to do? Smile and say sorry my daughter was standing there? It's so easy for you to say something.
Call out one media person who is also a father and won't have a similar reaction? This is harassment, looks like it's been a slow news day.
what else can you expect from someone eating ball during a match??to behave rationally???
He said gandu ! ET would probably sensor my message but not the video. huh !!!
Journalism in Pakistan is as yellow as it can get.
Geo news Pakistan the great Gambler
anyways, he should apologize his fans for his act...
FIR should be reported against him, he is not above the Law. He is not suppose to take law in his hand. The person who pushed his daughter should also be taken at task.
I dont blame Afridi here.. id probably react the same way if my daughter was stepped on. Thats just fatherly instincts
He needs to take some anger management courses. This is exactly the reason why I prefer Misbah over Afridi to captain the Pakistani side.
Afridi loves cricket and he loves his fans but he loves his daughter more......can you blame him for that ?
Pakistani media is becoming more and more like the dreadful Indian media
i would react the same if my daughter was stepped on. it could get worse and the little girls could get hurt.
"Some fans almost crushed my daughter. She fell on the ground badly. There was no security. The video has not shown my daughter who had fallen. That's quite upsetting."-
Afridi media always telling the wrong news first
pakistani media :@@@@
We know that you are ready to get out of control at the drop of a hat. You are the only loving father in the world. Even at this later stage in life and career if you cannot control yourself then when?