Say you're an Indian cricket player it would seem.
After the second test against Australia in Sydney, one of their players, Harbhajan Singh, was brought against the Board for, allegedly, calling Andrew Symonds 'a ####'. Now, I'm not going to get into the guts of this since most people on here don't really care about cricket so I'll just put up the findings in order of how they happened;
- Incident occurs during Sydney test (Singh and Tendulkar verses Ponting, Symonds and Clarke basically...3 say he said it, 2 denying it). - Complaint made by Australian captain (Ponting) and Singh has to go to a hearing. - Board find Singh is guilty and ban him for three tests. - Indian team threaten boycott of tour. - Board do a backflip and give Singh a suspended sentence and a new hearing to be carried out at a later date (January 29). - Indian Cricket Board threaten to go home, even going so far as to have a plane on the runway. - Indian TV broadcasters, ESPN, threaten to take the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) to court and sue them for A$60 million...which would take over ten years for the ACB to recover. - Singh's case is downgraded from a racial slur to offensive language. - Singh is now found guilty but since it had been downgraded he just gets fined instead (half his match fee...so about $3000).
Believe me, if that sounds a little hard to follow, you should try to follow it from my end. Ok, yes the Australians sledge, yes they have been accused of "being able to give it, but not take it", yes they can be arrogant at times...but for one team to have that much control over the sport to threaten to sue? No, the Australians certainly don't have that kind of power despite being comfortably the best team for the past decade.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) should have stepped in to put a stop to this before it escalated into the circus it is now. But they didn't, and we now have the situation where the global governing body is not in control of the game...that honour goes to the Indian Cricket Board. A dangerous precedent has now been set as players seem to be free to find out exactly where the boundary between sledging and offensive language is.
I don't care if Singh called him a #### or not (though considering that the word is bleeped out on this site does indicate to me that, in the wrong context, it can be offensive and/or racist so the argument from people on the radio about that can be chucked out right there), but the way the Indians acted went completely overboard and smacks of arrogance not even some players in the NBA or NFL could match.
Australia tour India later this year and at the first sign of abuse at a match, I'd have them on a plane the next day and sue the Indian Cricket Board for bringing the game into disrepute...after all, India have laid out the blueprint for any team to follow now so they have to expect the repercussions *shrugs*
Why the ICC doesn't have an investigation of this incident is puzzling to me ?
How in the hell can Singh's behavior as such be excused and he not be severely reprimanded ? It's an insult to the game and to the fans in general.
agreed, top. If the roles had been reversed, I'd blast the Aussies for threatening to sue if they didn't get things their way.
if you get a chance to read the transcript, it's worth it....I forgot that Hayden heard it too. Basically he tells Singh that he's (Symonds) got a witness (Hayden) and that Singh knew what he said was racial vilification, makes for interesting reading actually.
http://content-nz.cricinfo.com/ausv ind/content/current/story/334111.ht ml
lol, the word in question is 'mon key', sls....and it obviously must be offensive since it's bleeped out on this site :P
I'm not sure he's spoiled or anything, photo....I'm just annoyed at how the whole thing went down. The Indians pushed real hard to get the laws changed concerning sledging on the field and now it happened to one of their own....something's not right in my book.
Last edited by Tezgm99 on January 29th at 5:19 PM.
International cricket has been through the mill in the last few years.
The Pakistani forfiet of the England test where they were accused of ball tampering. Which led to the very, very public shaming of Daryl Hair and his nigh-on blackmail note.
The death of the Pakistan team coach during the World Cup in the Windies.
And now this.
I'm not a big fan of cricket, but if ever the sport needed to be remembered for the actual sport, now is it.
Another bit of controversy only goes to show why the sport is now being derided as nothing more than a passtime for members of the Commonwealth only. Even though that it's now spread beyond that particular diaspora. The ICC should step up to the plate place suspensions and snaction Singh. He shouldn't be allowed to play the game at any level for the next year at least. That way the severity of the punishment shows that they mean business. As of now it appears to be nothing more than not even a slap on the wrist for the player. Racial epithets in sports shouldn't be tolerated at all. And by their inaction it condones what Harbhjan Singh has done.
Tez is a rare creature; an Australian who was living in New Zealand before moving to Canada. He's also a Civil Engineer who is hoping to spend his Monday to Friday sitting in front of a computer surfing the inter...uh, working hard for an Engineering Consultant or Contractor when he finds a job. His heart is torn between his two loves; F1 and NASCAR.
Due to his high interest in those, his blogs will likely focus on them with the occasional foray into sports that don't get much (if any) mention on this website. All blogs and/or comments will more than likely have his usual dollop of sarcasm and general Aussie spin on them.
Amazingly, he also managed to score 2 MiB nominations on consecutive days (August 5 & 6, 2007) after announcing he had been keeping track of them...he's considering hiding under his bed as a result.
