Is part of the ICC’s problem the fact that many of them don’t know much about cricket, which is why their priorities are wrong? I heard a discussion on a Cricinfo discussion with some well-known ex-players about this.

How come symonds is vilified? he starts the row, and he shamelessly continues it, let him take responsibility for his actions first. how do u expect BCCI to control 10 supporters in a crowd of 50,000 when CA does not have any control over its players who continually run to the press in the midst of a series? It is irresponsible behaviour on the part of CA to be letting its players do the talking and even worse is ex players like Ian Chappel calling for a ban on Sreesanth. Why dont you ban Ricky Ponting and Andrew Symonds first? Why dont CA
set examples, when have they banned their own players,
correct your own house first and then blame others.
And leave out Murali for heavens sake, take a look at your own Shaun Tait.

In reply to Alex , last time a player was found guilty of racism he was banned for 5 matches…Darren Lehman V Sri Lanka for calling out “Black C…” on his way back to the dressing room after getting out. Symonds isn’t allowed to speak to the media about this issue per CA. AS for Murali ,… lost cause.

Alex

Here’s how you control 10 or 156 racial abusers in a big crowd - you throw them out, immediately.

As for the boy-wonder Sreesanth, he strikes me by his actions as a spoiled, snotty-nosed kid showing the whole world he doesn’t deserve to be on the same field as grown ups, much less real men like Andrew Symonds.

how do u expect bcci to act? ban the crowd of trouble makers from all future test venues. without any evidence the bcci will promptly get their ass sued in court.

the local administrators explanation is that they were chanting “ganpati bapa moriya” now how do you prove that wrong? presumed innocent till proven guilty, isnt it?

lehmann got caught with the stump microphone? am i right. lets assume there were no stump microphones, wouldnt lehman plead his innocence?

how has everyone so conveniently assumed there was a racial element in the whole thing? how did u come about this divine knowledge?

truthiness is such a lovely term, they say it was coined in as recently as 2006.

if u ask me did they do it yes, they might have, now does a monkey chant have the racist tones in the sense, that they are targetting symonds as a black man, no i dont think so. symonds is targetted more coz he has been deriding indians both off the field in the press and in the ground with his altercations with sreesanth and tendulkar. to say he has not started anything is as much feigning ignorance as saying everything is well with the western world.

in india, u dont come across other races in day today life, to be aware of such implications, one may even use the word nigger or black or jew or homo without knowing these are derogatory.

is monkey chanting by the crowd wrong, yes it is. but coming from symonds, he is old enough to know he shouldnt start anything he cant stop. he himself says that he didnt expect an easy welcome in India, so he went ahead and said that Indians celebrate their victory too much? and he wants indian crowds to be nice to him???? they have booed sachin tendulkar in mumbai. a crowd is 10 people, in 2 minutes time they can make a whole country look bad. we need to live with iit and move on.

The aussies so innocent about media that journalists have to put words into their mouth? Just see how Ponting takes a shot at Tendulkar while praising his 400th match. Or the usage of Dravid and how Dhoni should promote himself up the batting line up. Atleast he is subtle about it and Dhoni did take up the bait!

Enough rant. Do read this, its more positive reading!

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2007/10/15/the_truth_behind_whiteline_fev.html

So that’s the new favorite past time for the Anglo Saxon press I gather, blame it all on those bloody Indians and Pakistanis. How convenient.

For the umpteenth time, don’t you any have better arguments than Murali and Hair? Go back in team Will and see why that law regarding chucking was changed. If you want to have it the old way, go ahead, but you’ll have to ban about 99% of the bowlers in world cricket if that stays. And Hair was sacked not because he applied the the law by the book, but because the majority of ICC’s members had lost confidence in his umpiring over a period of time, the Oval test proving to be a culmination point. Same old lame arguments.

On the racism allegations on the Indian crowds, even if one was to presume those were true (and that would be big presumption to make, given the variety of counter arguments presented in just this very thread), it doesn’t prove how ICC is paralyzed on the issue of racism only because of India and Pakistan. Australian crowds have a recent history of racism, South Africa is no different, England have past history too, in recent times there were crowd problems (not racism related but of general all round disturbance makers) in even a place like New Zealand - the sport as a whole is not without racism, and every country is doing whatever they can. I can’t recall the Australian board doing a whole lot more when SA toured and complained than what the BCCI is or may be doing right now.

To just sit back and place all the blame for ICC’s ills on India and Pakistan speaks of terribly elitist mindset. Yes the ICC is hopeless organizations, but that’s as much England, Australia, NZ, SA, WI, ZIM, BANG and Sri Lankna’s fault as it is Pakistan and India’s, its not called the “INTERNATIONAL” cricket council for nothing Will.

Why does it seem to me every time I read such articles that it such attitude reflects underlying insecurities and contempt at seeing world cricket being influenced by new powers, outside of its historical origins in Australia and England. I have no sympathy or soft spots for the BCCI and PCB, like their counterpart in England and Australia, they’re all rank incompetent, but what this seems to suggest that everything would be so fine if it was how it was in the old gold days of the MCC/TCCB running everything as they please. Is that what this is all about then?

zainub,
Are you and Alex related? Or is it just that you share the same pro asian anti white views and hey lets not let the truth get in the way of your version of the cricket world.
Fact:Racist comments have been made at the last 3 games in India
Fact: photos were taken of the last incident. Sorry but they were not taken by an Indian so i suppose that gives you two grounds for “the alleged photos”.
Fact: Australian officials did not attempt to sweep racism allegations under the carpet - the indians did(wonder how they will deal with the photos - oh thats right they are only “alleged” so they can weasel out of that one)
Fact:The final proof that the ICC is paralysed on racism is there continued support for Zimbabwe and its racist and corrupt regime (does he mean government or cricket board? Take your pick!
Now if either of you two can find a way to support what is happening in that country then it will say an awful lot about you and your views.

“why India and Pakistan must always cope the flack is bit beyond me really”

I thought it was Australia who was the one always coping the flack. And I wasn’t aware that Australia had toured Zimbabwe recently, Zainub. In fact, I thought Australia cancelled their tour there this year.

Everyone throws round their “facts’ like they spend 24/7 sourcing and checking on these things. I suggest you all get life.

@Steve
“Is part of the ICC’s problem the fact that many of them don’t know much about cricket, which is why their priorities are wrong?”

Do you think ex-cricketers would make good administrators? I am not so sure…

All it takes is some genuine people (skilled at their job of course!) with the game’s interest at heart.

The pics of the guys at the Wankhade stadium are very damaging and it is now making all BCCI attempts to explain look rather silly.

They should indeed be taking the necessary steps to ensure it is not repeated again.

India has caste issues, it has communal issues, but it doesnt have race issues, simply because people of a different race does not appear in day to day life. We are more worried about being hindu and muslim over here.

They are making fun of him as a person, not as a member of a particular race, had the remarks made by symonds at the beginning of the tour been made by a white member of the team, all this would have been directed at him.

There is a difference between the personal and racial. This is not an attempt to cover up, if they ridicule somebody, they should be evicted, they should be banned for life maybe from attending a matches.

But it should not be made the excuse for vindication of personal prejudices and the reason for the fury which will be unleashed on murali when he throws Warnies record out of the window in australian ground itself.

and thanks for elevating me to a dirty word, ken asks are u related to alex as if the very thought is abominable! so it seems i am going down in the popularity charts

Alex and John, Can’t you give it a BREAK??? At least on this blog.

Patrick so nice of you to indulge in twisting my statements.

Patrick writes:
2. Related to #1 – Position the perpetrator as the real victim:

“Has CA found who called monty “stupid Indian…” (Ramesh).

Now, Firstly, Mr. Patrick doesn’t even know Monty is Briton and not an Indian (I am not talking about race here) and he or england was in no way responsible for what had happened in India. So I am not claiming that the perpetrator was the real victim

Secondly, What I was saying was quite relevant. Mr. Smith’s article was claiming that the racist remarks in India are let off just because India is a powerful cricketing Nation which has influence and money. And the English and “ignorant” Australians can do nothing but listen to the nonsense. What did ICC do against CA then?

Then Patrick continues:

“3. Suggest that the problem is much too difficult to attempt any corrective action and should therefore simply be accepted:

“how do u expect BCCI to control 10 supporters in a crowd of 50,000” (Alex)
“Why should India alone try doing the impossible?” (Ramesh)

In answer to the question though - you could have CCTV monitoring the crowd like they do in the English Premier League and in many Australian venues. Anybody who is seen to act in an offensive manner (i.e. mimicking monkey or gorilla actions) is evicted by police. And yes Ramesh, there is plenty of evidence of this behaviour.”

I agree CCTV footage will do a world of good. But the point is there was none when Symonds first accused Indian crowd of racism. So, as I pointed out there is no possible way to find the culprits or prove the charge against them in case those responsible are found.

Then, I never claimed nothing should be done about such personal abuses. All I said was why is Mr. Simth blaming India alone for not nabbing the culprits when Australia too has failed to do so? I recognize that in both scenarios the authorities are handicapped by the lack of evidence, blaming India alone for this inability is outrageous.

Talking about evidence, there is only evidence to suggest that Symonds was abused in Mumbai and not in other places. When Evidence was present action was taken.

So the moderator is also biased, when I draw attention to columnist Smith’s racism he deletes it. Great Going!

Alex,
I read with interest your last comments and thought here is a reasoned sensible response. Maybe i have been wrong about this person. But then your silly comment about Murali and Warne confirmed my previous thoughts. And your final comment has me baffled. I asked Zainub if you two were related (it was tongue in cheek) because you both write with the same pro asian anti white sentiment. You both raise some very good points but cant help yourselves and have to add into the same thread dribble like your Murali / Warne comment. So how you decided you were a dirty word is beyond me.

Ken,

Its not that I like this new feel of greater poloriazation between the world cricket playing nations, I abhor it as a matter of fact, cricket and sport in general should act as a bridge, rather then walls, and bring people of different views and different background together for the great human tradition of fair contest and competition.

My entire gripe is that articles like the one being hailed as “excellent” by Will here, just increase that feeling of “we’re on this side, you’re on that side” that’s increasingly begin to grip many countries. World Cricket from the administrative point of you is a big mess, and we’ve got to start accepting responsibility, all the lot of us, instead of just playing the blame game and sighting our own preferred convenient conclusions. We’re all responsible.

So ultimately, I agree with you. No hard feelings hopefully. I’ve been reading the Corridor for now the better part of two years (I’ve haven’t always posted in the comments section as with same frequency of course) and I can relate to time were the atmosphere in the comments was less confrontational and generally speaking more amiable. I miss those times too.