Believe it or not, the word most frequently heard in cricketing circles today is a perfectly normal English word - not chucking, sledging, googly, fine-leg or doosra. Racism has always been lurking around the fringes of the game - when unapologetically segregationist South Africa was kept away from cricket, several (mostly) white players from Australia and England would sneak in to play a game or two, lured by the money; risking lifetime bans. Each quaintly labeled rebel tour would inspire a few articles condemning apartheid, and (predictably enough) British newspapers would write muted articles about why things weren't really that bad, and why people shouldn't get their undergarments into intricate knots over a mere game.
Neighboring Zimbabwe had an all-white cricket team as well, but that didn't raise too many eyebrows because the team hardly won anything, but mostly because they played for a country ruled by a benign black dictator.
But today, things have changed. The benign dictator is not so benign anymore, and of late, he has been maintaining a punishing schedule - creating food shortages in his country by taking away farms from white farmers. But Robert loves playing games, and he is going to make time for cricket, punishing schedule or not. And how well he plays. First, he cleanses his team of all white players - using other people of course, why would a powerful man get his hands dirty? - and then obviously pleased with how clean the team looked, he is now on another cleaning spree - this time to get rid of all the good players, especially the pesky ones that want to get paid for their services.
Several interesting strategies have been employed in this round, including but not limited to robbing players of their money, death threats, divide and conquer. Meanwhile, the standard of cricket has dipped alarmingly in the country, and most games involving them bear a more than passing resemblance to games involving the Atlanta Hawks. But Mugabe doesn't know that because he has no time for the NBA. Plus now his team is all black, and isn't that good enough?
Meanwhile, events in Australia are ensuring that things stay balanced on the racism front. Crowds at cricket matches in Australia are always a bit more, um... boisterous than crowds elsewhere, possibly due to a lot of beer and not too many bathrooms on the grounds, but this year they've taken their bad behavior to new depths. People have learnt new words, and are not hesitant to try them out on visiting cricket teams.
A few years ago, a prominent Australian cricket player was suspended after using an innovative new phrase that combined the color black and a certain part of the female anatomy to describe Sri Lanka's cricketers, and at that time, there was a sneaking suspicion that this was no isolated incident. Events this year are proving that theory right.
Less violent [than the Sydney riots], but in some ways more disturbing, have been the growing number of racist taunts that have since sullied international cricket grounds throughout the summer. Perhaps spurred on by the alarming images a week earlier in Cronulla, spectators at the first Test in Perth subjected some members of the South African cricketers to crude apartheid-era insults. Fast bowler Makhaya Ntini and several other players were called "kaffirs" and "kaffir boetie" (brother of blacks) by people in the Waca crowd. [Link]
And in some ways, the most surprising thing has been the incredulous reaction of most of Australia to protests by the South Africans - Much noise about harmless name calling has been the general refrain. Neil Manthorp explains:
Just over a month ago, between the second and third Test matches in Melbourne and Sydney, one of the country's most prominent newspaper sports editors asked me to write a comment piece explaining what "all the fuss" was about.
To the majority of Australians being called a "kaffir" is no different to being called a "wanker" or a "prick", said the editor. Could I please explain why the players were so 'sensitive' to a bit of 'name calling...' [Link]Later this month, when Sri Lanka's cricketers arrive in the country to play in the VB one-day series, will sections of the crowd welcome them with Tsunami taunts?
[...] That's the equivalent of what Graeme Smith and his players have been experiencing from time to time during this tour.
South Africa, too, has had its Tsunami but it began in 1948 and it was called Apartheid. And it was not a natural disaster, it was man-made and that makes it even worse. And like Sri Lanka's Tsunami, it claimed many thousands of innocent lives but, just as in Sri Lanka, we can't be sure how many because there are still people missing, buried in secret graves by an invisible force.
Nelson Mandela spent 27 years of his life in prison for fighting Apartheid and there would not have been a single day of that time when he wasn't called a 'kaffir'. [Link]
And here is Peter English chiming in on the controversy, rubbishing the theory that racism was confined to expatriate South Africans living in Australia.
"Don't blame Australians for the racist remarks," a reader wrote to Cricinfo's feedback this week. "They were made by South Africans now living in Australia." This popular comment misses the problem that has been pushed underground for decades.
A bay of supporters was decked in patriotic gold shirts at the SCG last summer to watch Australia play Pakistan. Closer inspection of their garb revealed a slogan including the words "Pakis" and "towelheads". The year before Indian supporters were upset to be called "coolies" at Adelaide and in response to the Barmy Army's 2002-03 chants the locals fans responded with "I'd rather be a Paki than a Pom". [Link]Yesterday a sports-loving gentleman at a club morning tea wondered what all the fuss was about: "They've been called kaffirs all their life, why does it matter now?"... [Link]
And in the midst of all this, John Howard, the Australian Prime Minister is concerned about the offensive language on television shows.
Prime Minister John Howard says there has been a marked deterioration in good manners in Australia. [Link]
And you thought the British were masters of understatement?
PS: I hate to be presumptuous, but am wondering if we can keep the comments focused more on racism and less on cricket...
