As an Australian Cricket Fan I'm disgusted...

[PhoenixFire]

You can't just label a racist insult as specifically worse/not as bad as an insult about ones family. Situation, location, time and lots of other factors decide whether it is as bad or not.

 

[Sanz]

We will just have to agree to differ on that. IMO, being called a name without implied violence associated isnt close to as bad as insulting in vulgar terms a loved one.

As a married man, any insult towards my wife or kids is 1000 times worse and anger inducing than anything that can be said to me (whether it is racial or not)

Yeah Agree 100%.

Whenever I have heard people directing racial abuse towards me or my friends - I dont get those angry emotions, its usually the feeling of pity about that person's lack of education and his ignorance etc but If I hear one bad word about my family and that includes parents/wifes/kids/close family - I just can not tolerate.

 

[Shaggy Alfresco]

i found it ironic how india were implying symonds is a monkey...

has noone seen sreesanth?

difference between symonds and sreesanth is symonds would beat the living piss out of you.

The bolded comment is amazingly childish and frankly offensive.

It has nothing to do with race. Sreesanth actually does kinda look like a monkey.

This thread has hit rock bottom.

 

[Richard]

Was it really ever likely not to?

 

[archie mac]

oh please, no racist abuse in aus. one of the most annoying things about living in this country is the way we create this whole australiana myth with happy little vegemites all living by the sea, saying g'day to their neighbours, giving everyone a 'fair go', championing our ‘home grown talent’ overseas and generally living our supposedly happy little lives. All the time we conveniently forget we vote in Howard for over 10 years, gobble up lies about children being thrown overboard, happily accept the fact the native inhabitants of this land live in third world conditions and pounce on anyone who suggests steve irwin wasn’t a 'top aussie bloke' yeah, this country is so tolerant and wonderful and the only people who would ever racially abuse anyone are ‘bogans’. Keep dreaming.

Nice geralisation

So conversely we don't live by the sea, we are not happy, we don't give people a fair go. Change some of the names and other details and this could be any number of countries, waste of time reading it tbh

I think a number of people on this site if not all, have been happy to say that Aust. has/is/will made/make racist comments at the cricket, just like every other country.

Is it right? NO

 

[Johnners]

Agree with Goughy & Sanz re: Abuse directed at loved ones is worse than racial abuse. I can't say i've ever been the victim of racial abuse, but i personally hate "ya mum" type comments.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Burr's rant was gold for mine.

Anyway, Australians DO engage in racial abuse at the cricket, at least sometimes. Frankly it's fairly obvious if you're in the right section of the crowd at any given match. Hell, I've heard racial abuse in a match between Australia and New Zealand, albeit directed at Andrew Symonds by a Kiwi fan. So essentially the OP is in dreamland.

That doesn't alter the fact that painting Australia as the only nation which engages in such things is as ridiculous as pretending that Australians don't. And I don't see the correlation between sledging and racial abuse necessarily, as the former can essentially be impersonal gamesmanship, while racial abuse because of all the connotations involved will always be somewhat personal, even if the overall intent (to put the opposition off their game) is essentially the same.

Racial abuse at the cricket should be stamped out, if only because cricket is an international sport which derives a great deal of its success from a general international spirit of cooperation and friendly competition. Racism is inherently opposed to those values, and a danger to the game, as well as a general blight on society. Insulting or otherwise sledging an opposition player to put them off their game is part of cricket, and indeed most sports, and is a totally different matter I don't really have any issues with.

 

[honestbharani]

Burr's rant was gold for mine.

Anyway, Australians DO engage in racial abuse at the cricket, at least sometimes. Frankly it's fairly obvious if you're in the right section of the crowd at any given match. Hell, I've heard racial abuse in a match between Australia and New Zealand, albeit directed at Andrew Symonds by a Kiwi fan. So essentially the OP is in dreamland.

That doesn't alter the fact that painting Australia as the only nation which engages in such things is as ridiculous as pretending that Australians don't. And I don't see the correlation between sledging and racial abuse necessarily, as the former can essentially be impersonal gamesmanship, while racial abuse because of all the connotations involved will always be somewhat personal, even if the overall intent (to put the opposition off their game) is essentially the same.

Racial abuse at the cricket should be stamped out, if only because cricket is an international sport which derives a great deal of its success from a general international spirit of cooperation and friendly competition. Racism is inherently opposed to those values, and a danger to the game, as well as a general blight on society. Insulting or otherwise sledging an opposition player to put them off their game is part of cricket, and indeed most sports, and is a totally different matter I don't really have any issues with.

Agree with it but I still maintain that racial abuse AND insults at a players' loved ones are basically equally bad. No way can one be claimed to be not as bad as the other.

 

[Nate]

Burr's rant was gold for mine.

Anyway, Australians DO engage in racial abuse at the cricket, at least sometimes. Frankly it's fairly obvious if you're in the right section of the crowd at any given match. Hell, I've heard racial abuse in a match between Australia and New Zealand, albeit directed at Andrew Symonds by a Kiwi fan. So essentially the OP is in dreamland.

That doesn't alter the fact that painting Australia as the only nation which engages in such things is as ridiculous as pretending that Australians don't. And I don't see the correlation between sledging and racial abuse necessarily, as the former can essentially be impersonal gamesmanship, while racial abuse because of all the connotations involved will always be somewhat personal, even if the overall intent (to put the opposition off their game) is essentially the same.

Racial abuse at the cricket should be stamped out, if only because cricket is an international sport which derives a great deal of its success from a general international spirit of cooperation and friendly competition. Racism is inherently opposed to those values, and a danger to the game, as well as a general blight on society. Insulting or otherwise sledging an opposition player to put them off their game is part of cricket, and indeed most sports, and is a totally different matter I don't really have any issues with.

On the money as per usual. Though I think some non-racist slurs can go too far, such as McGrath vs Sarwan.

You just need to apply it personally for it to make sense IMO. When you're at the crease, you expect sledging and banter. But if it turns racist, it needs to stop.

 

[Burgey]

oh please, no racist abuse in aus. one of the most annoying things about living in this country is the way we create this whole australiana myth with happy little vegemites all living by the sea, saying g'day to their neighbours, giving everyone a 'fair go', championing our ‘home grown talent’ overseas and generally living our supposedly happy little lives. All the time we conveniently forget we vote in Howard for over 10 years, gobble up lies about children being thrown overboard, happily accept the fact the native inhabitants of this land live in third world conditions and pounce on anyone who suggests steve irwin wasn’t a 'top aussie bloke' yeah, this country is so tolerant and wonderful and the only people who would ever racially abuse anyone are ‘bogans’. Keep dreaming.

Spot on. Too right. We all fall for this "we're so tolerant" rubbish - unfortunately, there is an underlying thread of racism in this country, as there is in a lot of countries.

Racism doesn't have to be overt to be there. Like most things of a cowardly and ugly nature, it mostly hides in the shadows and generally works in the world of whispered sniggers and smart alec innuendo, only occasionally raising its head into the spotlight.

Witness the recent dog whistling on the Sudanese refugees here. That sort of stuff is how it permeates through the community. The term dog whistling is just so appropriate for that type of thing - you can't hear the racism in the actual statement, but the undertone is there.

Absolutely disgraceful, but more people are becoming aware of it and have had enough. As Kim Beazley said after the 2001 election "There are bleak angels at work in our country, but there are good angels too".

Hopefully there will be no, or at least extremely few, racial incidents this season at the cricket. None would be ideal, one or two is at the high end of realistic expectations, imo.