Published by Nanda on 29th January 2008
Judge Hansen, from New Zealand, gave the verdict of Not Guilty to the racism charge against Harbhajan Singh in a hearing that lasted almost 6 hours. After hearing evidence from the stump microphones, Judge Hansen said that he was convinced that on all evidence submitted before him the charge of a level 3.3 offence was not proven, but that Harbhajan should be charged with a level 2.8 offence.
Harbhajan admitted that he was guilty of using foul language and so has been fined 50 percent of his match fee. A lot of supporters back in India and overseas will find this justice, and it may be, but the way it has been achieved leaves a sour taste.
The initial ban on Habhajan should have been handled more professionally. When you are charging a high profile player from the biggest money-making machine for the ICC, one has to be careful and thoughtful about the possible ramifications. Mike Proctor was guilty of failing on both counts. He made the mistake of believing Andrew Symonds’ and Matty Hayden’s word against Harbhajan Singh and Sachin Tendulkar’s. When there are witnesses from both sides testifying to different things, even a common person knows that a judge needs more conclusive evidence. Proctor ignored this basic rule to brand Bhajji racist. He lost his reputation. Australia lost the battle then and there.
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andrew symonds,
BCCI,
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harbhajan singh,
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matthew hayden,
odi series,
racism,
sachin tendulkar
Published by Nanda on 20th October 2007
This
news report on Hindustan Times clams that the Australian public is gearing up to give the Indian players a taste of the same medicine that was dished out to Andrew Symonds. Which is really sad considering that 4-5 spectators in a general crowd of over 50,000 have caused a major headache for the organizers. Indian spectators have, in general, been extremely hospitable to the visiting teams.
The really pathetic part in all this is, if Australian spectators also resort to heckling and racism then they are just going to prove that what those few Indians did was right. The Australians should, in fact, lead by example and show that there is no racism in this great country. Otherwise, its just going to sour relations further and events like this can quickly transgress into the very social fabric of the country.
Post your comments/views on this latest controversy to hit the game.
Published by Nanda on 16th October 2007
In the latest news reports, it seems that some unwanted elements of society racially abused Andrew Symonds during the 6th ODI. After reading that news, I wasn’t all that surprised. He had it coming. Although I am not a racist or support racism, Australian cricketers had been getting away with a lot of things off late. Yes, they are the World Champions. No, that does not give them the right to talk crap in the name of aggression.
The spectators who “supposedly” passed racist comments must be penalised, provided they can be found. There is no place for such idiots in the game. Regardless of what another country’s people do, we as Indians have always been passionate about the game and never crossed the limit like this. Barring the 1996 World Cup semi-final, Indian spectators have always directed their ire at their own cricketers.
ICC wants to get these spectators penalised. And how on earth are they going to achieve this task. We are talking about 50,000+ people who come to watch the match. How can you pin point one person or a group of people making racist comments. All that can be done is educate the spectators that racism is just not on. And the BCCI is going to advertise that message in tonight’s game in Mumbai.
Post your comments on what you think about racism in India and what can be done to stop incidents like this from happening.
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