Sickening and Ugly Racist Aussies at the Cricket Grounds in Australia

# Cricket's world governing body the ICC has appointed India's Solicitor General Goolam Vahanvati to investigate alleged racist abuse by fans in Australia. Players from South Africa and Sri Lanka have both been subject to abuse during their current tours. ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed expressed his organisation's determination to stamp out the problem. More ...


# Goolam Vahanvati will investigate the appalling crowd behaviour at Australian grounds, including the state's main stadium in Brisbane. Stump microphones have been turned down so viewers aren't shocked by the players swearing, but the words in the stands this summer have been much more upsetting. South Africa have complained throughout the tour of racial taunts, which have resulted in a handful of offenders being ejected and the threat of future boycotts, and last week the Sri Lankans were targeted as "black c****" in Adelaide and Sydney. The mainstream theory condemns ex-pat South Africans for bringing in words like "kaffir", as if the only place the pure locals have seen them is in cookbooks next to vine leaves. "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." However, national immaturity prevents Australia from recognising the racism even though terms such as "Lebs", "blacks" and "Abos" appear in many conversations. 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?"More ...

# Australian cricketers are bracing themselves for hostile receptions during the coming tour of South Africa amid fears fans will seek payback for the racial abuse directed at the Proteas by Australian crowds this summer.But the racism probe that is set to start in Australia might prompt a wave of new abuse towards Ricky Ponting and his players.
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# For South Africans, racism is still a raw wound. For Australia, it is a problem with which they still need to come to terms if the Cronulla riots are anything to go by. Some Australians - judged by comments and letters in their newspapers - believe South Africans are far too sensitive regarding the racial abuse to which the Proteas cricketers have been subjected over the past two months. These Aussies claim that it is in the nature of sports crowds to be crude. More ...