More racism dramas

[sunny]

A couple of days old but I haven't seen any thread about it.

http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/australia/content/story/234961.html

VB Series, 2005-06

Crowd race slurs target Sri Lanka

Cricinfo staff

January 30, 2006

Racist crowd taunts at Australian grounds this summer have increased to include Sri Lanka, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. The paper also said John Rhodes, the ICC's regional security chief, was punched by a spectator at Melbourne's Telstra Dome as the behaviour of supporters comes under even heavier scrutiny following derogatory remarks made to South Africa's squad throughout their tour.

The report said up to five spectators were ejected from the Adelaide Oval on Australia Day for calling the Sri Lankans "black c****". The same description was yelled by Darren Lehmann, the South Australia captain, in a Brisbane dressing room after he was dismissed in a 2002-03 VB Series match against Sri Lanka, and he received a five-match suspension that ruled him out of the early stages of the World Cup. Indian supporters were also targeted at the Adelaide Oval during the 2003-04 tour.

Cricket Australia has a zero-tolerance policy on racist remarks and is reviewing its security policy after problems in each of the three Tests were carried into the VB Series. A spectator was evicted at the Gabba for a verbal attack on Shaun Pollock and South Africa's chief executive Gerald Majola said at the weekend the United Cricket Board would consider not returning to Australia because of the behaviour.

"It is not right when a country has a history like ours," he said in The Sunday Mail. "The sad thing is it has continued around Australia. It hasn't just been limited to one state or city."

The Sydney Morning Herald said Rhodes, the ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit boss in Australia and New Zealand, was punched after an inebriated spectator reportedly accused him of being South African. The man was later ejected from the ground.

© Cricinfo

Meanwhile the ICC is investigating

http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/australia/content/story/235136.html

Indian lawyer travels to Australia

ICC investigates allegations of racism

Cricinfo staff

January 31, 2006

The ICC has asked Goolam Vahanvati, India's solicitor general, to investigate incidents of racial abuse that have taken place in Australia. His appointment follows an official complaint from the South African board.

Vahanvati will speak to venue staff, Cricket Australia representatives and ICC officials during his visit. He will then travel to South Africa and Sri Lanka to interview players and team officials from all three sides that participated in the recent Test and ODI series before reporting back to the ICC in March.

"Racism in any form is abhorrent and everyone in cricket is unhappy with the way in which players from international teams have been subjected to racist abuse in Australia," said Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive. "The actions of what would seem to be a small number of people are reflecting poorly on Australia and on cricket. It is essential that this issue is addressed.

"What is now important is that the ICC is provided with a clear and independent understanding of exactly what has taken place to ensure that cricket is able to respond appropriately."

Speed added that the Australian, Sri Lankan and South African boards had all offered their support. "Since the first incident was reported, Cricket Australia, Sri Lanka Cricket, the United Cricket Board and their players have been united in condemning this sort of behaviour. The entire international cricket community is united in its commitment to doing everything possible to eradicate any racist abuse.

"Once the ICC executive board has received this report, we will be in a position to identify what further steps cricket can take to tackle this issue before it spreads beyond the incidents that have taken place in Australia."

Vahanvati was part of a two-man panel that investigated allegations of racism in cricket in Zimbabwe in 2004.

© Cricinfo

 

[sunny]

Cricket Australia has, to its credit, called for lifetime bans for these racist mongrels at games.

Meanwhile Peter English, the Australian cricinfo editor, has an interetsing piece up on the matter.

Increasing racist taunts at Australian grounds

Kicking out racism

Peter English

February 1, 2006





The treatment of racism in Australia is evident in the coverage of Queensland's The Courier-Mail today. The ICC's decision to send Goolam Vahanvati, India's solicitor-general, to investigate the appalling crowd behaviour at Australian grounds, including the state's main stadium in Brisbane, appeared on the sport section's third page. On the front cover John Howard, the prime minister, was telling television stations to watch their Ps and Qs, but mainly their Fs and Cs, when producing reality shows.

Vulgar language and the odd flash of skin during Big Brother is apparently too offensive for the many conservative viewers, but when it comes to colour the country is expert at clamming and covering up. An embarrassed Cricket Australia has had to ask the government, a coalition of the Liberal and National parties who have refused to apologise to the Aboriginals' stolen generation, for help punishing spectators yelling racist abuse at visiting sportsmen.

Stump microphones have been turned down so viewers aren't shocked by the players swearing, but the words in the stands this summer have been much more upsetting. South Africa have complained throughout the tour of racial taunts, which have resulted in a handful of offenders being ejected and the threat of future boycotts, and last week the Sri Lankans were targeted as "black c****" in Adelaide and Sydney. The mainstream theory condemns ex-pat South Africans for bringing in words like "kaffir", as if the only place the pure locals have seen them is in cookbooks next to vine leaves.

"Don't blame Australians for the racist remarks," a reader wrote to Cricinfo's feedback this week. "They were made by South Africans now living in Australia." This popular comment misses the problem that has been pushed underground for decades.

A bay of supporters was decked in patriotic gold shirts at the SCG last summer to watch Australia play Pakistan. Closer inspection of their garb revealed a slogan including the words "Pakis" and "towelheads". The year before Indian supporters were upset to be called "coolies" at Adelaide and in response to the Barmy Army's 2002-03 chants the locals fans responded with "I'd rather be a Paki than a Pom". All were probably expat South Africans.

At the Twenty20 international in Brisbane earlier this month a family visiting from Perth wanted only to watch Ricky Ponting bat. They saw him and were excited, but they also heard a group of men behind them speaking quietly about the "monkeys" in South Africa's team before a fight broke out a few rows further back. The punching man was thrown out but the group of old-world attitudes remained. Before the 2003 World Cup Darren Lehmann was banned for yelling "black c****" in a Gabba dressing room after being run out against Sri Lanka. Lehmann's supporters said he was definitely not a racist, but a "good bloke" who was affected by the heat of the moment.







Is there a pattern here, or are there just a lot of South Africans in Australia? The attitudes seem so ingrained they go unnoticed by the users or their sympathisers. The rest of the world sees the damage through international coverage of the recent beach riots at Cronulla, the Tampa boat crisis over refugees in 2001, the policies of the popular One Nation party in the 1990s and its cricket grounds.

However, national immaturity prevents Australia from recognising the racism even though terms such as "lebanese", "blacks" and "aborigines" appear in many conversations. Yesterday a sports-loving gentleman at a club morning tea wondered what all the fuss was about: "They've been called kaffirs all their life, why does it matter now?"

English football set up a Let's Kick Racism Out of Football group in 1993 and a similar exercise would be valuable in cricket as a tool of education and understanding. Tim Cahill, the Australian midfielder at Everton, holds a prominent position on their website. "Racism is not only unacceptable, it is criminal," Cahill says. At best this summer's offenders are guilty of gross ignorance, at worst they are racist. Cahill's description must become the standard line.

http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/australia/content/story/235281.html

 

[Lego_Man]

The problem is more alcohol than racism.

 

[sanjane]

The problem is more alcohol than racism.

Then get rid of it, too. Either the racists or the alcohol must go...

 

[salivor]

You tool, alcohol causes racism, I've heard it all now.

 

[Tom Shines]

But seriously, when hasn't any touring side copped it from home fans? And not just in Australia, but when we play abroad?
Racism in general is not on, but there seems to be a massive knee-jerk reaction.

 

[NPK]

You tool, alcohol causes racism, I've heard it all now.

It makes people do stupid things, like shout out their racist views...they would not do that if they weren't drinking/drunk.

 

[fish eel]

But seriously, when hasn't any touring side copped it from home fans? And not just in Australia, but when we play abroad?
Racism in general is not on, but there seems to be a massive knee-jerk reaction.

But is it a knee jerk reaction?
Maybe its only ion the news now because the south africans have been the only side with the balls to stand up and speak out.

 

[Panjabi]

It makes people do stupid things, like shout out their racist views...they would not do that if they weren't drinking/drunk.

Alcohol doesn't make people racist. I don't get the urge to be discriminatory or racist when I'm having a drink. Individuals can't hide behind diminished responsibility due to alcohol. People who have underlying prejudiced beliefs will vent those feelings regardless.

 

[Rastus_in_Melbourne]

Australian's when in England get called 'convicts'. How do we respond ? We dress up in prisoner uniforms and have a good day at the cricket.

It's either that all we get all offended, walk out of the ground, and call for an inquiry.

 

[Panjabi]

Australian's when in England get called 'convicts'. How do we respond ? We dress up in prisoner uniforms and have a good day at the cricket.

What pray tell should Sri Lankans get dressed up in when they were called 'Black C****s' on Australia Day?

 

[Tom Shines]

Dress as a vagina, perhaps?

 

[Rastus_in_Melbourne]

What pray tell should Sri Lankans get dressed up in when they were called 'Black C****s' on Australia Day?

The way Sri Lanka played in Perth, I'd suggest as a speedbump.

 

[Tom Shines]

A clown suit.
You know, being pie-chuckers and all.

 

[Thomas]

I hope they crack down on the crowds in South Africa.

God knows what they are say to visiting teams as its in a language only the home team understands. Ditto for Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan etc etc

 

[fish eel]

I hope they crack down on the crowds in South Africa.

God knows what they are say to visiting teams as its in a language only the home team understands. Ditto for Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan etc etc

If your none the wiser what is being said, I guess its pretty hard to take offence!

 

[NPK]

Alcohol doesn't make people racist. I don't get the urge to be discriminatory or racist when I'm having a drink. Individuals can't hide behind diminished responsibility due to alcohol. People who have underlying prejudiced beliefs will vent those feelings regardless.

Yea that's what I said

 

[Panjabi]

I hope they crack down on the crowds in South Africa.

God knows what they are say to visiting teams as its in a language only the home team understands. Ditto for Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan etc etc

When was the last time any of those nations were formally investigated by the ICC as a result of racial abuse from the crowds.

 

[Lego_Man]

I wasn't implying that alcohol causes racism you fools. As NPK also said, it removes inhibitions and causes you to say and do things you wouldnt otherwise. When you combine this with the mob mentality of some groups at the cricket, this sort of thing is bound to happen. Same goes for crowd violence. I firmly believe that if there was no alchohol at the cricket, neither of these things would be a problem.

 

[JJ]

I'm sure there's no racism in Australia!