My problem with the whole episode is that it is one person’s word against the other. The umpires admitted (as mentioned by Mike Procter in an interview) did not hear anything. I am not saying Bhajji is innocent, but as long as it is only one persons word against that other, I will make liberal use of that bucket of salt.

If an Aussie, or anyone else, sledges using the words ‘m*&%$#f$%^&r’ - you are saying that is okay because it is not racial ? An Indian or a Sri Lankan might be as sensitive to that language as Symonds is to ‘monkey’.

How the h*** is “Monkey” a racist term? Are the Australians (or rather the Australians as a race, which they are not) particularly associated with Monkeys and the term is sensitive to them? Does Andrew Symonds belong to the monkey race? (what the h*** is a monkey race??)

No seriously, why???

IMHO, being called a monkey is nothing more than a sledge and shouldn’t be taken any other way.

Mr Michael in first place yours comments are disgusting.First of all no one is sure whether yours Symonds is speaking a truth or not.He is the same guy who was out four times,and he did not left the pitch,had this situation arrived with any other team (specially subcontinental) this same guy would have preached sportsman spirit and crucified other guy for not leaving the pitch.Hypocrites indeed!. Lets us first establish whether something bad was called or not.Mr will said that indian manager admitted Chetan said that harbajan called symonds monkey,no were there is mention of this in media,so my advice to him is that give credible news.

And now i come to word monkey,no doubt use of this word is inappropriate , but these same Austrailians sledged Jaisooria ,Sri lankan with same word MONKEY ,and justified it and adviced him to take it sportingly.A blatant hypocracy.I Harbajan is clown then yours Aussie players do not deserve to be called human bieng.

this season aussies are playing with 13 players. 11 + 2 umpires

Its not just symmonds but entire australian team is bunch of primates…its fun to watch their musing acts on the field..they cheat/they lie and do everything possible to stay world champions..soons humans will take over these primates…

Cheers!

Ps. I think I’ll defect to a non-monkey blog.

Once; in the Lower Edrich, on the last day of the India Test Match at Lord’s, a lady turned to Daniel Radcliffe who happened to be having a VERY good/loud time with his friends and called him a monkey. Rather than being mortally offended by what is no doubt a racist slur, he frowned and replied that he was sorry and he would attempt to stop swinging from the stands.

Are we certain that the context used is entirely different?

You mean, you see your blog as means for therapy??? You don’t think it just inflames the ulcers?

Dear ranter Vijay, I am not an Aussie.

(My previous comment was meant for Will by the way)

@Steve: I admit there is a fair share of ranters an ravers among Indian fans and there are quite a bit of them among Aussie supporters too - just head to rec.sports.cricket on Google groups and you will see what I mean.

Leaving that aside, what I am miffed about is how everyone has declared Bhajji guilty till proven innocent. And simply on the basis of Symond’s word.

And yes, it is ironic that it is now the Aussies who are make a big fuss out of this, given their previous history (remember Lehman ?).

To fair though, CA has been extremely proactive in making sure there arent any trouble from the crowd.

I love it when India loses at cricket- to anyone. The whining and sooking and conspiracy theories by their fans is a sight to behold.

@Scott: Did you hear whining and conspiracy theories when India lost the MCG test - fair and square ?

Besides, I thought this post was about Harbhajan’s alleged racism towards Symonds, not about Indian fans

But Scott; no ones talking about the loss here; I thought we were talking about the alleged racist slur…

Am I just confused here? Were we talking about bhajju?

However; since you bring it up, the loss was clearly due to the Andy Millman slug from Dr. Who coming back from splatter-dom in order to get revenge upon David Tennant only to confuse him for the entire Indian Cricket Team and decided that rather than kill them all, he’d give Michael Clarke super-powers for a bit in order to cause the team and their fans great emotional trauma. A more than suitable response to being splattered everywhere. And, it was all signed off by George Bush. (what?)
It’s the truth don’t you know?

Anyway, I don’t think bhajju should be banned unless a) a witness is found (someone must have heard it right?) and b) the world (a.k.a urban dictionary) concurs that ‘monkey’ is indeed a racist sledge and not a rather sub-par attempt at sledging.

@Bongoponditp- yeah there was a fair bit of it going on. Apparently the umpiring in Melbourne was dodgy too.

I like digressions. As for Harbhajan, well, I think he’s a bit of a fool, but it’s hard to take anyone who behaves like him seriously. Good bowler though.

But Indians are kidding themselves if they can behave like that to black people this way. Wouldn’t Indians object if Australians made blunt statements about Harbhajan’s appearance?

Dear Scott , What about Symonds .Mcgrath and so many others ,the worst sledgers who through vulgar comments at opponents

What about them, Vijay? You get sledging in cricket- you don’t mind it when Harbhajan or Sreesanth send down a few verbals, do you?

You give it and you get it.

In view of the farse in the second test match and ugly cricket played by the austrialians, Indian board should pull back their team from australia and severe all cricketing realtionships with theam. Australians must be banned from playing cricket for next two years in all international level by ICC. Austrilians should not be allowed to bring the glorious game of cricke to any more disrepute. They must be taught moral lessons and righteousness and asked to do public service like public toilet cleaning. Cheaters are punished under law. And if you are cheating in the full view of 100 crore people we can’t allow it. They are Australian crickets are criminals in the view of hundred crore Indians. If they go out of the stadium they could be arrested for con’ing the Indian team and the whole world.

Also umpires should be criminally procecuted and later publically executed.

Cor Chapell! I don’t even know if you’re being sarcastic or being crazy.
Despite the importance it may or may not hold to people; it is indeed just a game.

Oh so when India do it, it’s ‘challenging words’ when Australians do it, it’s ‘vulgar’.

I see.

Not a really convincing argument, I’m afraid.

pardon my ignorance, but what exactly is racist about the term “monkey”? Don’t yell at me, I’m really asking genuinely. I’ve never heard that term being used negatively before.

And do all posts about India losing wind up in people yelling racial insults at each other? Come on, no one’s going to come out on top like this. I don’t see what wrong the Aussies did in this situation, and it’s pointless to claim that since several Australians have been known for their sledging that all Australians are rude, racist and hopping for an argument.

Harbhajan has had plenty to say to Australian cricketers every time he’s played against them. Shreesanth had plenty to say last year as well. The difference is, Australians don’t sook when someone has a go at them. So these things don’t get reported.

Of course Australians have ‘gone over the line’ at times. I just don’t think Indians have anything over us in that department.

Which reminds me, I must stock up on some jellybeans. Apparently, to Indians, that’s a sledge too.

Indeed ,it was a stupidity at international level,you are expected to behave as professionals ,not as bunch of fools,and if that was not wrong why Aussie Captan Appologise. And what about Mcgrath and Servan episode.Or As a matter about a fuss and controversy you Aussie rake about Murali, or Injamam and hair’s episode

Wonderful stuff!

The core of this problem is an Indian team and billion-plus nationals who believe they are more important than they actually are versus a team of hard men with massive egos, reacting angrily to someone threatening their supremacy.

Either way, the sniping and bickering makes both teams look childish

Only one way to sort it out, get in the ring, fellas!

I just spent 3 and a half minutes looking at cricket scoreboards… and now I am confused.

Anyhow.
We are digressing. The most important question here is do we think monkey is a racist slur and if so; WHY?
Has anyone SEEN a monkey recently; granted its been a while since I went to a zoo (due to pro-free-animal feelings); but I guarantee that the last time I went to India and saw one (a free one) it looked nothing like Symonds at all. In fact, the monkey was notably smaller and indeed the only similarity I can draw is that both Symonds and the monkey were exceptionally unnattractive.
So unless I was actually not seeing a monkey or Harbhajan is in dire need of chasma, surely this has nothing to do with a physical comparison?

If indeed it happened…
*mind-boggles*

Alyssa first you confirm whether Haebhajan has said this word to him or not.If he has said this then its totally unacceptable.Do not brag the issue when its unknown whether it was said or not, We know how much honest Symonds is !!!!!

Alps -

I suspect you mean the Aussies?

Mate (there’s the give-away tip for you), what happens on the field stays on the field. If the Indians had won today (and gee, they came close) I doubt you would have had:

* Journos slandering the Indian captain (top bloke that he is) at a press conference;
* Aussie journos behaving as parochially as the travelling contingent have;
* CA jumping up and down like the BCC is (and I wonder how much of the BCC’s hot air is simply to placate a notoriously fickle domestic audience. Death threats anyone?); and
* Mean-spirited comments from the Aussie online community (such as we are seeing here).

Remember team, humble in victory and gracious in defeat.

By the way, I’m just pleased there is another rivalry to match the Ashes.

Dear Alyssa what i meant let it be established.if you are getting bored you are pleased to leave.

Vijay -

I’m pretty sure “idiot” is pejorative term and banned under the ICC code. Careful. I might have you up in front of Mike Proctor.

When the dust settles on this one, perhaps we might like to reflect on it in a historical sense. I wonder how many decisions have gone against visiting teams, over the course of a few decades, on the subcontinent?

Did someone, in a previous post, mention a collective sense of humour failure among the Indians?

Alps - winning isn’t everything? Hmmmm. With a world record at stake? With the feeling between the sides? With a bunch of superstars out for a last Aussie tour among the star-studded (yet, under-performing) Indian team?

Nope, this one wasn’t just about winning.

As for cheating, well, not walking is gentlemanly, but I’m not sure it’s outright cheating either.

All good stuff, can’t wait for the Perth Test. I imagine there might be a few bouncers fired in. Best series since the Ashes in 2005.

YOOHOOOOOOOOOO!!

happiest day of my life…

to see those minnowbasher FTBs Yuvraj “SissyBoy” Singh and Wasim “Overrated” Jaffer being brought back to earth after their rocketing rickety rickshaw rides thru a tickertape and whatnots for winning a silly 20over bash-out.

I know the umpiring was dodgy, but guys, honestly, aren’t you HAPPY to see the last of the Prince of Pretender Yuvraj Singh!!!

GO OZ GO

New event Indian team management has submitted complaint Against Brad Hodge for using abusive language.How about that!!!!!!!!!!!

Brad Hodge wasn’t even playing?

I am Indian fan but I don’t really like Harbhajan anyway. But to put the word has to be put into context. I live in England and I call my brother a ‘bandar’ (monkey in Punjabi) all the time. It is used similar to the word idiot in English.

If Harbhajan merely directly translated the word into English it really can’t be racist.

It’s similar to the word ‘Paki’, in England it is racist but everywhere else it isn’t, including India.

I’m not defending Harbhajan but merely trying to state that we have to know in which context the word was used, as Tendulkar defended Harbhajan afterwards as well.

Harbhajan shud have restrained calling monkey to symonds after all symonds is very upset about monkey chants in the last indian tour. If he wants to upset symonds he shud have chosen different words.

But banning him for 3 tests on the basis of complaint from the australian team without evidence is not a good judgement.

There are a few things that frustrated me about this game. Make no mistake, I loved watching the game and lots of aspects were fantastic.
But before I go there let me tell my comments with regards to the contents of this blog. I strongly believe that no one should be penalized until proven guilty. According to cricinfo Harbajan has not been proven guilty but is believed to be guilty beyond reasonable doubt. Hence should not be banned till he is proven guilty.
Beyond reasonable doubt I do believe that the Match refree is not credible by the way !!!! Just kidding.

Now the things which frustrated me
1. India calling Steve Bucknor incompetant.
2. Steve Bucknor still umpiring. I believe concetration is the key for umpiring not just experience.
3. Watching 5 days of cricket 7 to 8 hours a day and witness 7 decisions go against your team and only a couple against opponets that too after they did the damage.
4. Umpires referring the catcher before giving a final verdict. That is just nonsense. Next thing you know they’ll have a home team fan do the judging Was it a catch close to the boundry? the fan says yes! That is out!
5. Bucknor not knowing where the bat and the ball were in two occasions. Really! Symonds non-dismissal and Dravid dismissal were more than pathetic decisions.
6. Ricky Ponting’s appeal for the catch he grounded. Arrogance shown to the journalist when asked about that.
7. Clark said he took a clean catch. That is certainly not in the right spirit of the game.

All being said I would say that the decisions given at the 5th day of a test match on a pitch like this are more crucial than the decisions given in the first day of the match. Symonds got really lucky this match.

“Lets us first establish whether something bad was called or not.”

Vijay, it’s been established. Carry on. And please enlighten us with hard evidence of Jayasuriya being called a Monkey. You sound just like this sudden out-of-the-blue retaliation accusation of Brad Hogg using racism.

@libero: You are probably right. But Harbhajan should have known better as we all saw the signs fans were carrying in India and the blatant monkey acting they were carrying out (he scratching of one’s underarms and hooting like a monkey).

With that base established and the sensitivity of it from the previous series, Harbhajan’s effort was extremely poor and deserving of a ban. He could have sworn to his hearts content but he had to dig into an already sensitive word. I believe he did it in spite, with Symonds race as the target so what can he really expect?

These are the new rules framed by ICC.

(1) Ricky Ponting – (THE TRULY GENUINE CRICKETER OF THE CRICKET ERA AND WHOSE INTEGRITY SHOULD NOT BE DOUBTED) should be considered as the FOURTH UMPIRE. As per the new rules, FOURTH UMPIRE decision is final and will over ride any decisions taken by any other umpires. ON-FIELD umpires can seek the assistance of RICKY PONTING even if he is not on the field. This rule is to be made, so that every team should understand the importance of the FOURTH UMPIRE.

(2) While AUSTRALIAN TEAM is bowling, If the ball flies anywhere close to the AUSTRALIAN FIELDER(WITHIN 5 metre distance), the batsman is to be considered OUT irrelevant of whether the catch was taken cleanly or grassed. Any decision for further clarification should be seeked from the FOURTH UMPIRE. This is made to ensure that the cricket is played with SPORTIVE SPIRIT by all the teams.

(3) While BATTING, AUSTRALIAN players will wait for the ON-FIELD UMPIRE decisions only (even if the catch goes to the FIFTH SLIP as the ball might not have touched the bat). Each AUSTRALIAN batsman has to be out FOUR TIMES (minimum) before he can return to the pavilion. In case of THE CRICKETER WITH INTEGRITY, this can be higher.

(4) UMPIRES should consider a huge bonus if an AUSTRALIAN player scores a century. Any wrong decisions can be ignored as they will be paid huge bonus and will receive the backing of the AUSTRALIAN team and board.

(5) All AUSTRALIAN players are eligible to keep commenting about all players on the field and the OPPONENT TEAM should never comment as they will be spoiling the spirit of the AUSTRALIAN team. Any comments made in any other language are to be considered as RACIALISM only.

(6) MATCH REFREE decisions will be taken purely on the AUSTRALIAN TEAM advices only. Player views from the other teams decisions will not be considered for hearing. MATCH REFREES are to be given huge bonus if this rule is implemented.

(7) NO VISITING TEAM should plan to win in AUSTRALIA. This is to ensure that the sportive spirit of CRICKET is maintained.

(8) THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE: If any bowler gets RICKY PONTING - “THE UNDISPUTED CRICKETER WITH INTEGTIRY IN THE GAME OF CRICKET” more than twice in a series, he will be banned for the REST OF THE SERIES. This is to ensure that the best batsman/Captain will be played to break records and create history in the game of CRICKET.

These rules will apply to all the teams VISITING AUSTRALIA.

i must say that is well said indian, looks like your rules came into force for this match.

i am dissapointed by the poor performance by india but i am even more dissapointed by the umpiring mistakes and the three match ban. if i were to call a stranger on the road a monkey can that be racist? and if no-one else heard me say it and it is my word against his, can i be punished? 7 wrong decisions against a single team is dispicable, i do beleive that if the series continues the ICC will definitely have to take indias request of changing the umpire into consideration as there is plenty of physical evidence int he form of footage of the match that he made alot of wrong decisions.

Indians may not think that Monkey is a racist comment just as Australians don’t think Punkawallah is a racist statement. But not to many Indians like being called Punkawallah’s

hi

its very nice to know that former australian legends, media and public are decrying the ponting & co. the way the played the cricket, they have brought the nation and the game to a great disrepute. a good lesson has been already taught to them. hope they will learn fromthis.

there is not proof that harbhajan has used the monkey word against symonds. but if he has used then he should be banned for 5 tests since he has brought great disrepute to all monkeys in the world by comparing them with a cheat/ fraud.

lol can’t believe monkey is a racial slur

Next tym aus comes to tour south africa i will proudly brandish my huge banner saying: “Symmonds = Monkey” and symmonds can cry me a river

lets not pretend the australian cricket team cannot deal with a pre-teen insult..

take this nonsense for what it is.. an aus ploy to put india off there game.. and guess what it worked

watch sa beat the windies in 3 days!

that’s what happens when u play in aus

MONKEY is not racist by any means!! It is just another insult!! calling Symonds BLACK MONKEY would be racist!! So there! Racism my bottoms!

@Srinivas - it has racist connotations and was identified by the Australians pre-tour as a racist term. The Indian team was aware of this.

Whether he said (and I don’t know if he did) it or not is a different argument. But to argue that a) monkey is not racist or b) the Indian team did not know (or accept that) is incorrect.

@amol - racist: “discriminatory especially on the basis of race or religion”. I think strangely enough that you may fall under that definition. Why the hate?

@veggi_myte

As in many countries, there was elements of racism in Australian sport. Although I wouldn’t go so far as to say that Australian sport witnessed any more or any less racism than many other countries.

Australian sports people have also been a part of important moments in human rights in sport - notably Peter Norman in the 1968 Olympics.

If you take the view that “what happens on the field, stays on the field” then bringing up any instance of abuse, racial or otherwise, is not a beneficial thing.

However, why should the Australian team, if they feel they have been on the end of racial abuse, be allowed to bring this up? It is their right. As much as it is any other player of any other country to lodge complaints against those they feel discriminate against them.

Mr Scott, Very Sorry, U have lost and its a good think. Ponting is the most hated player in many parts of the world and it was proven once again in IPL auctions when he was paid much lesser price than many new comers. Please wait until ur aussie World champions(sledging) come to India.

Bhajji i think is right symond really look like a monkey.He as do not have manners to how to talk to others so this personality is also matched with monkeys.hahaha what a stuppid type of person he was.And also in the last he is the suspect.but the referee is not with the faith he favoured the monkey.
………………..
sankalp
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