Racism and sports: Cricket and the Indian context

yagnyavalkya

I am posting this question in yahoo answers as well I suppose it is not conduct violation in the forum
For those of you who have been watching the current IND- AUS series should know that there is a lot of racism going on
For most of us racism is black and white
India has been a racist county from time immemorial only that color is not the factor
caste is the factor and to an extant the colour come into picture but not just black or white
It is actually shades of colours from black to wheatish
There is a the north south divide to a great extant based on skin colour shades
But what I don't see is the the aussies have not shied away from player calling other players by racial taunts should raise a hue and cry
If it tis the black colour the cause of the monkey gestures I hardy believe it is racism
The West Indians have been here
They have been mighty in the past there was no racism by the fans then
They are here even in the recent past they have not been so good at the game still I didnot see racial taunts
Is it not true that the monkey gestures were more at the Aussie team that at Symmo
What do you all think

burqe

Hello,

It is true that people of different regions have different inclinations in thier behavior but no people in the world are made rude or misbehaving. The ability to accept, live and work with other races is present in evey nature, only the environment makes it bitter.

The problem with India and to some extent with Pakistan is that the people are too mad about cricket. They don't feel it as a game and just to enjoy. Things have become more serious. That is the reason of the kind of behavior you see. I won't call it racism. Even when india is against pakistan in match, you would some times see this even when they have similar races.

Racism is seen in cricket at places but I think this is not the case.

mattyj

The way the Indian crowd treated Andrew Symonds was an absolute disgrace, and absolutely not acceptable

The australians were far and away the better team for that series, and the Indians fans couldnt take it so they lash out at Symonds by calling him a monkey? DISGRACEFUL!

India should have the test status removed untill they learn to control their crowds better, that was disgusting

yagnyavalkya

mattyj

yagnyavalkya

THe idea is to develop a healthy discussions here not trade accusations and hurl abuses

georgekalathil

ACtually the incident during the India-Australian one day series cannot be counted as a racial abuse.
If thats considered as a racial abuse, then the australian crowds can be considered as the most racially abusing sects. Whenever any team plays in australia, the crowd behavior is untolerable..

mattyj

mattyj

yagnyavalkya

THese are Australian papers and sites themselves reporting
Read these the fir
1. http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,22596894-23212,00.html
Racism common in Australian sport

By John Coomber
October 16, 2007

RACIAL abuse and vilification is commonplace in Australian sport, according to a new report by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC).

As controversy rages over claims that Australian cricketer Andrew Symonds had been subjected to racist taunts in India, the report released today says racism persists across all major sporting codes in Australia, despite concerted efforts to stamp it out.

The report, What's the Score? A survey of cultural diversity and racism in Australian sport, says Aboriginal and other ethnic groups are under-represented in Australian sport, and suggests they are turned off organised sport because they fear racial vilification.

“It is clear that incidents of racial abuse and vilification are prevalent across all major sporting codes, involving professional sportspeople, amateurs, coaches and spectators,” said Race Discrimination Commissioner Tom Calma.

“The fear of racism in Australian sport is also a major barrier to participation for indigenous people and those from various ethnic and cultural groups.”

The report outlined a wide range of initiatives taken by national sporting organisations, governments and bodies like the Australian Sports Commission to stamp out the problem, but said more work was needed.

“Sport is not immune from acts of discrimination, harassment and abuse; rather it often provides an environment which can lend itself to conduct which is not only inappropriate, but also unlawful,” the report said.

“Rather than ignore this reality, all sporting organisations surveyed have policies in place to protect their members from discrimination, harassment, abuse and other inappropriate conduct.”

The report outlined initiatives taken by 17 sports, including cricket, Australian rules football, netball, rugby league, basketball, hockey and foot.

It said Cricket Australia was highly embarrassed by racist taunts directed at South African players during the 2005-06 Test series and of other taunts directed at Sri Lankan players in Adelaide during a one-day international in January 2006.

It also listed an incident in which the ICC's regional anti-corruption and security chief John Rhodes was punched by a drunken spectator at Melbourne's Telstra Dome after being identified as South African during the same summer.

The report quoted Australian captain Ricky Ponting as saying: “There's no room in sport for racism whatsoever. The players are all very aware of that, the crowd needs to be aware of that and enjoy the game for what it is.”

However it cited a survey which found that 46 per cent of 12,000 respondents believed crowd behaviour had been acceptable during the 2005-06 summer.

“New strategies are necessary and tough laws help but the attitudes that give rise to racist behaviour at sporting events do not seem to have shifted a great deal,” the report said.

It said sport can play an important role in creating “social capital” to help bind a diverse nation together.

“Our sporting organisations need to ensure that their policies and programs are focused on making sport inclusive and fulfilling to those who take part.”

2. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22598366-5001505,00.html
this an Australian paper

Racism 'ugly underbelly' of Australian sport

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Nicole Jeffery | October 17, 2007

AUSTRALIA may be aggrieved by racist chants directed at cricketer Andrew Symonds in India this week, but it still needs to clean up its own backyard, according to a new human rights report.

The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission has conducted a survey of cultural diversity and racism in Australian sport, which found racism remains a problem.

"It is clear that incidents of racial abuse and vilification are prevalent across all major sporting codes," race discrimination commissioner Tom Calma said.

"The fear of racism in Australian sport is also a major barrier to participation for indigenous people and those from various ethnic and cultural groups."

The report found "an increase in incidents of poor crowd behaviour in recent times", citing the racial abuse of South African and Sri Lankan cricketers and ethnic clashes at soccer matches.

While almost one in four Australians were born overseas, migrants are under-represented in non-elite sports participation, as are indigenous people.

A 2004 Australian Bureau of Statistics survey found that 31 per cent of Australian-born adults were involved in sport, compared with 12.2 per cent from non-English speaking backgrounds.

The HREOC report identifies a number of other barriers to participation including lack of access to facilities due to remote geographical location, the exclusive structure of some sports, and lack of knowledge about sports clubs and services.

Young women were particularly disadvantaged, primarily for cultural reasons. Some sports had culturally inappropriate uniform requirements and lacked female coaches.

"Racism has been the ugly underbelly of Australian sport for over a century," the report says.

Those sports that did have participants from diverse backgrounds, such as soccer and wrestling, came from "rich ethnic roots".

The report said the AFL led the way as a traditional Australian sport trying to engage with ethnic and indigenous groups "devoting unprecedented resources to developing the game amongst their existing base ... as well as promoting the game to potential participants, particularly those from non-traditional markets".

Islamic Council of Victoria member Waleed Aly vouched for the ability of sport to overcome racial barriers.

"The benefit is that sport is largely a meritocracy," he said.

"Aged six, I was asked at my local football clinic to play football against 10-year-olds. At seven, I was playing cricket in the under 12s and took a hat-trick. At school, people wanted to be on my team and all of a sudden I wasn't so foreign."

mattyj

Well i go to A LOT of cricket every summer in australian and i have NOT ONCE heard a racist comment made to an opposition player, NOT ONCE

yagnyavalkya

http://www.hreoc.gov.au/racial_discrimination/whats_the_score/index.html
thanks
I have a very good white aussie friend I don't believe he is racist in fact he is a very good friend of mine
I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING AGAINST THE AUSSIES
just that it is the story of people who live in glass houses should not throw stones at others

mattyj

Fake

self edit

mattchun

Racism is everywhere in sports, especially in Italian Football league. By the way, I have you played the game "Football Manager"? There's an advisement in it, LET'S KICK RACISM OUT OF FOOTBALL!