It might not be strictly about rugby, but if you’re an Aussie rugby fan there’s a 98% chance of you also follow the Baggie Greens. So I thought I’d spray a few words about the India/Australia cricket kerfuffle.
First off , you’ve got to admit that India didn’t get the rub of the green in what was some uncharacteristically shoddy umpiring at some pretty piss poor times in the last test. Symonds being given 2 lives around 30 and then going on to rip the guts out of the second test with 145 is just one example.
As we all know in cricket, some go your way, and some don’t. Bucknor wasn’t biased, just human. Still, if I were Indian, I’d have cause to have a groan and gripe to my mates. Perhaps even the national board would make a few noises about the standard of umpiring. Maybe.
But what’s happened with this latest tour over the last few days is FUBAR.
In a nutshell a key India player, Harbhajan Singh was sanctioned for racism and banned for 3 tests. Perhaps because they were sore from the test result, or perhaps as more of a cynical cover up, the Indian cricket board (BCCI) then conflated three different issues – umpiring errors, Aussie sporting conduct and Harbhajan’s ban – into one big strop. The first two sulking points designed to cover up the indefensible third.
What’s worse is that to their shame, the ICC has given into this, by removing Bucknor from the next test and signaling that Singh could play in Perth as his appeal will be pending. Put this together with the Pakistan/Darryl Hair incident and it’s becoming clear that the louder and more brat-ish the tantrum, the more likely the errant child is to get off. Experienced parents will tell you this will only bight you in the ass down the line.
I’ve mentioned the errant umpiring, but let’s look at the other two issues; Australia’s sporting conduct and then the racist incident. To my mind the Aussie team probably does need to wind it back just a notch on the former. Not because it’s ‘unseemly’, but because it’s getting to the point where the actions aren’t speaking as loud as the words (take Pontings’s repeated failure against Singh for example).
But this isn’t an apology for playing hard, which a lot of commentators would like to see. Take Simon Barnes of The Times for example. Usually a standout writer among sporting hacks, he’s used this occasion, where an India player used a racist epithet, to prove that Australian sledging has gone too far. Because well, by sledging, Symonds was just asking to be called a monkey.
What the fµck?
Here’s a quote from his article Sledging was always going to put the game on slippery slope:
Continuing escalation is inevitable. If I called you an idiot, again and again and again, you would eventually call me a bloody fool. What would you think if I then staggered back in horror. “He called me a fool! He said bloody! This mustn’t be allowed!” That is what has happened.
Australia led the way in insults and now, claiming that an India player used a racist term, they are saying that rude behaviour on a cricket pitch is terrible, rotten, awful, mustn’t be allowed.
Very, very wrong. As Carys Mathews from Chester, UK said in reply on the Times Online website:
There’s a difference between sledging and racism. That you can’t see it doesn’t bode well for you.
Perfectly put. There’s nothing about sledging, as unappealing as it might get, that leads you to be racist. If Barnes believes that the natural way to counter an escalating argument is pull out racist insults then it doesn’t say much for his belief system. I guess flirting inevitably leads to rape as well?
The other points that have been made about this incident include, “he didn’t do it, it’s just Aussie player say so” and “they should have just settled it themselves”. Have a read of this by Malcom Conn in The Australian and see what you think then:
When Harbhajan called him [Symonds] a “monkey” during the seventh match of the Future Cup one-day series in India last October, an upset Symonds informed team officials and then went and knocked on the Indian dressing room door.
He sought out Harbhajan and explained he found the term offensive.
Harbhajan apologised and the Australians believed they had an agreement with Harbhajan that he would not abuse Symonds in similar fashion again.
So Ponting decided enough was enough and felt he had to act when Harbhajan called Symonds a monkey last Friday, during the third day of the second Test in Sydney.
At the end of the day, the Aussie team should, and I’m sure will, continue to play aggressive cricket. But maybe they should look back to the Border and Waugh days for the level of verbal and attitude required. One thing’s for sure though, even if umpiring decisions don’t go your way and the opposition plays tough, there’s never an excuse for racism.
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