The last decade has been a turbulent one for World Cricket – with the dizzying highs of England’s Ashes triumph to the shocking lows of the match fixing saga…
But that was all behind us… Twenty 20 cricket had smashed its way on to the world stage with a World Cup tournament second to none. And after the fiasco that was the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies, it was a welcome change to have a global tournament where supporters would be praying for their team to win and not to ensure there wasn’t an electricity cut! – As an aside kudos to South Africa cricket for organising such a fantastic world cup. They did it with the 2003 world cup and have followed suit with the Twenty 20. This would support a very strong case for the next football (soccer for any Americans out there…) world cup to be staged in Africa.
Just as normal service seemed to have resumed in the cricket world today, a new interruption occurs – a Racism row in an India-Australia series. The immediate reaction to a statement like this has always been ‘What have the Aussies done now?’ (Unfortunately, there have been several incidents where they have lacked indiscretion and insensitivity when it comes to other cultures – a la Dean Jones and Darren Lehmann). But they seemed to have learnt from the past or maybe it was all that time Brett Lee spent singing with Asha Bhosle!
This time around, the Aussies are on the receiving end – to be more precise; one Aussie – Andrew Symonds. The claims are that he was subjected to monkey noises and taunts as he came out to bat by the crowd – most recently in Mumbai. There have been some culprits identified but no real action taken - herein lies the issue. Not that there was some childish, ignorant idiot in the crowd doing what he thought was a lot of fun, but that this issue has not been nipped in the bud (of course it doesn’t help that there are players in the team that instigate and promote such reckless behaviour). What is most appalling is that the BCCI proudly states that they have not complied with the ICC ruling to appoint a racism commissioner to stamp out this behaviour in the game. The reason; India is too big. Surely a board that is supposed to manage all aspects of cricket in India can find a way. Further, Mr Niranjan Shah, Secretary of the BCCI, argues for Symonds to prove that he was subjected to abuse. Surely, Mr Shah, that is what the board should do!
Here’s something for Mr Niranjan Shah and the BCCI to ponder:
Have every cricket board appoint a racism commissioner for their state – this should not just combat racial abuse at visiting international teams but at state teams as well. World articles talk about the caste issue in India but that is not as prevalent as something more dangerous – the state bias; South versus North; State vs State.
Have an overall chief commissioner present at every international series akin to the match umpire.
Impose strict bans and fines on improper crowd behaviour – it may mean that security actually have to work for a living rather than watch the game but then…
Of course this will cost money (that the BCCI has in bucketfuls – gold bucketfuls) and it will take a lot of process and paperwork (which the BCCI also already has). But before any of this, the BCCI has to take the matter seriously. This is NOT something that can be brushed aside and must be dealt with swiftly!
This is one occasion where the issue of racism must be stamped out immediately without partiality – it has no place today – either in the game or our day to day lives. Most importantly, it puts a damper on what is still perceived to be a gentleman’s game - it's just not cricket!
