ICC and not Indians is racist
2008
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Rishabh Srivastava - Profile
There are 164 more posts on Jai Hind: Proud to be an Indian by Rishabh Srivastava
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Sports
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australia, Harbhajan, icc, india, Inzimam, pakistan, Ponting, Racism, Sachin, Sourav, South Africa
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RACISM HAS many definitions, the most common and widely accepted being the belief that human beings are divided into more than one race, with members of some races being intrinsically superior or inferior to members of other races. As racism carries references to race-based prejudice, violence, or oppression, the term has varying and often hotly contested definitions.
Harbhajan Singh has been handed a three-match ban for a supposedly racist slur made against Andrew Symonds. Isn’t this a well-judged decision?
That’s what ICC seems to believe. They have shown these double standards time and again thereby making an Asian cricket playing nation, a racist one. Let us consider the Indian team, and its history is full of such double standards followed by ICC. The sport cannot go forward until those two blocs (Asian and Non-Asian) are able to work together, and that can only be done when ICC is mainly less of a white Commonwealth club. For the past 20 years it has, by all appearances, been a cartel run by Australians. The Asian countries’ belief, that despite supplying two-thirds of the money in the global game they are endlessly patronised by white administrators, is the cankerous root of the current crisis. It had to be confronted 
some time; it might as well be now. The smell of racism is felt in the cricket atmosphere circle and many past and present test cricketers and experts are throwing their comments open for discussion to the masses.
We have history full of such biased decisions:
Remember the Australia-India test match, which was being played in Mumbai. Michael Slater caught Dravid on a bounce and third umpire gave the decision in favour of Dravid. Slater lost his control and had a spat with umpire S Venkata Raghavan. He then went to Dravid and threw some bad words towards him. But this was unnoticed by the match referee and Slater was let off without any fine.
In 2003-04 tour of Australia, Glenn McGrath verbally abused Sachin Tendulkar at least half a dozen times but was not reprimanded by ICC referee then.
If most of the sledging is OK but some terms are deemed racist therefore some forms of sledging are not acceptable while others are—then let the ICC publish the rulebook of sledging—what sledging is OK and what is not with examples. (For instance, it is apparently OK for Glenn McGrath to ask a West Indies batsman what a certain part of Brian Lara’s anatomy feels like because it was a non-racial macho thing to say – basically sic personal abuse is OK in the gentleman’s game but not anything to do with race). Or should action be taken against both forms of abuse?
The ball-tampering row last year involving Pakistan and Darrell Hair made racism in cricket a debatable topic. In the midst of the match, he accused the Pakistan team of ball tampering. Inzamam-ul-Haq, the then captain of the Pakistan team, got offended and decided not to take the field after the lunch break. That led to a showdown between Hair and Haq, which eventually resulted in Pakistan forfeiting the match. As it turned out, there was no evidence of ball tampering, yet Inzi was imposed a ban.But unfortunately all these things happened because WE ARE RACISTS!! Then,
ICC must be banned for owning such a racist game.
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If you think it’s only millions of distraught Indians who are backing the Turbinator, think again.
Spinner Harbhajan Singh, in the eye of a storm for alleged racist remarks against Australian cricketer Andrew Symonds, has received support from unexpected quarters.
What happened in Sydney on Saturday has upset every cricket lover in the world, even those in Australia.
An online poll on the Sydney Morning Herald website leaves little doubt how people feel about the sordid affair.
Only 14 per cent respondents think Harbhajan is guilty and deserved the three-match ban. An overwhelming 38 per cent of the 11,755 surfers who took part in the poll say ‘Australia has long used sledging. They can dish it out, but can’t take it’. If that’s not an indictment of the national team, then what is?
There are similar outpourings on the ABC-Australia website. “Should just called him a Goose [which he is] is that a racist slur? Only Symonds heard the slur no one else and he’s found guilty thank god where not in a court of law. To tell you the truth I’m sick of watching this crap and won’t be watching cricket anymore”, writes Allan.
“Harbhajan is partly a victim of a drift in standards in recent years. Plenty of Aussie players, including several current, would be getting lifetime bans these days if they said some of the things now that they used to. This cant be over-stated in my opinion. I have long been disappointed in the behaviour of some Aussie players, including some from my home state of Queensland,” adds John.
Other Australian websites like couriermail.com.au are flooded with pro-Bhajji comments as well.
“I’m not taking sides here but racism is defined as: a belief or ideology that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially to distinguish it as being either superior or inferior to another race or races. Calling somebody a monkey doesn’t fit into that category I’m afraid. It actually doesn’t even come close. What we are seeing here is a classic case of society too concerned with reading into things a bit too much that causes authorities to act in the fear that they would have done something wrong by not acting. To classify this as sledging, verbal abuse, taunts, name calling is justified. To classify it as racism just insults most peoples intelligence,” writes Mick from Brisbane.
Ian from Sydney wants cricketers to stop indulging in gamesmanship and get on with the game instead.
“The world is getting so politically correct and thin skinned that name calling is as bad as physical violence. I would understand a 3 test match ban if he had hit Roy over the head with a stump or bat. Hey you cricket men?? Stop hiding behind your skirts and play the game you are paid for. Name calling is in most team games to me it is part of the game. If you let it get to you on a personal level then take your bat and ball and stay home,” he writes.
What is especially noteworthy are the online barbs directed at Australian captain Ricky Ponting. “I am sure that as Harbhajan’s “Bunny”, Ponting will be glad to see the back of him. Maybe he will spend a bit more time at the crease in the final two tests!!!!”, quips Ian on the ABC-Australia website.
“I don’t understand where the Aussie media is going. Its true we have to back our players. It shouldn’t be to this extent. It was very clear that Ponting had grounded the catch and even then went for the appeal. Even Clarke was disappointing to say none the least. I don’t feel Australia deserved to win this match,” writes Don Daniel on the same website. “The picture says it all (referring to an image of Ricky Ponting making an appeal)…he may be able to play cricket but still lacks the ability to lead by example. I remember taking my kids to meet him and his cohorts at Drummoyne Oval for a promotional event. He was full of himself and downright rude to the assembled kids there,” adds Mike M.
According to Val Moore of Chinchilla, “Cricket has always been a gentleman’s game, but as a female Australian, I hang my head in shame at the dishonest behaviour of some of our illustrious players not to mention the inexcusable umpiring decisions. I sat glued to the coverage just to see what next injustice was to be handed to the Indian players. I applaud them for their tenacity and dignity in what must have seemed to them to be a fruitless mission. The ignoble captain of the Australian team certainly showed his true colours. He should try to play by the motto, ” It matters not who wins, it is how you play the game”.
Forget Australian websites, Aussies are making their disappointment with Ponting clear all over the World Wide Web.
“Let us look at like this that Symonds is only a smoke screen being used by Ricky to get Harbhajan out for the rest of the tournament for the former knows that the latter is a threat to his batting averages. It may even be at the cost of his own principles “what happens in the field, stays in the field”. But then who cares. I don’t know if Symond realizes this,” writes Sam Johnson from Sydney on Timesonline.co.uk.
Such a show of support must be heartwarming for Harbhajan. It also comes as repartee to those who have been quick to write an obituary for cricket after the incidents at Sydney. The Gentleman’s Game, Thank God, is alive and well!
—- http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtvcricket/cricketstory.aspx?id=SPOEN20080037918
While officialdom sits and discusses the nitty gritty of who wronged who in the Sydney cricket Test between India and Australia, the world over it is not just about cricket anymore. For cricket, religion as it is in India, is not bigger than national pride.
Indians all over are furious. Take the match, they say, if you want to win so badly. But you cannot trifle with our sentiments. For if sportsman spirit is missing, we would rather not play out a charade.
An overwhelming number of our surfers have suggested that there is no point in continuing with the Australia tour. The bad umpiring, the truculence, the anti-India demeanor – the behavior of the hosts has found very little support even in their own country. And the ban on Bhajji has fueled the fire.
http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/current/story/329708.html
Somebody, probably a preschool teacher, needs to explain simply to Ricky Ponting about the damage that has been caused by his team during the Sydney Test. While India burns and fumes over issues ranging from race to umpiring and sportsmanship, Ponting continues to believe his team has done nothing wrong.
It is extraordinary that he doesn’t understand the significance of India’s threat to boycott the tour or Australia’s direct and indirect roles in the lead-up to it. He is as temporarily blind as some of the officials were at the SCG.
On a day when there was a call for Ponting, Australia’s most successful captain, to be sacked, his only concession was that he would sit down with Anil Kumble and talk about the situation “if Anil thinks that is necessary”. “But I’d be really surprised if he thought it was.”
I’ve written a small post about why “monkey” is probably not really racist from an Indian point of view, as Steve Waugh insightfully suggests. it’s found here: http://regenerationayk.wordpress.com/2008/01/08/monkey-business-india-vs-australia-cricket-what-else/
Harbhajan Singh racism controversy
Ponting turned down request – Kumble
Anil Kumble has revealed that he had approached Australian captain Ricky Ponting after the third play’s day of the Sydney Test, requesting him to not press the charge of racism against offspinner Harbhajan Singh.
“I did make a request actually when that incident happened on that particular day,” said Kumble, speaking in Canberra in what was the first official press conference since the Sydney Test.
“I did make a request that it should be handled … if the issues can be sorted out. But it went up to the match referee and there was a case. His response was it had already been reported. Having played cricket for this long, [i knew] such an allegation would definitely spiral into what it has now. I anticipated that.
——-
http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/ausvind/content/current/story/330013.html