Racist? Duh?

There8217;s a lot that BCCI does which doesn8217;t invoke sympathy, just the opposite in fact. But our administrative overlords of cricket deserve some sympathy when they ponder over how best to respond to ICC8217;s missive that requests it to investigate 8216;8220;racism8221; in Indian crowd behaviour. Duh? is the only logical BCCI response. India is a land of many prejudices 8212; caste, regional, religious. Race, understandably, has never been high on the list of the proactively uncouth. Have black West Indian cricketers ever been barracked by Indian crowds? Have black African footballers who have played in Kolkata8217;s soccer league, with its famously volatile spectators, ever alleged racist behaviour? Why on earth then should some cricket fans in Vadodara decide that Andrew Symmonds8217;s ethnic origins should be fodder for taunts? Symonds has most likely carried over 8216;western8217; specificities about prejudice.

8216;Monkey noises8217; are the typical vocal responses of boorish racists in stadiums in the West. Soccer fans in Europe used to regularly abuse black players in this fashion till authorities started penalising clubs. But it8217;s heard even now, and it8217;s a dreadful thing to happen in a sporting field. Dreadful things happen in Indian stadiums, too. But you have to get your complaint right. Anyone who8217;s been to cricket matches would know that 8216;monkey noises8217; are a standard part of crowd behaviour here. They fall between the boisterous and bad, but they aren8217;t engendered by considerations of where and to whom the sportsperson being targeted was born. To say that Symonds was being targeted because of his ethnicity is therefore absurd.

India, like Australia, has a section of population that are carelessly described as tribals. But tribal history in India has been very different to that in Australia. An illiberal Indian is far more likely to have a prejudice about caste or religion or both, than about tribes. Indian hockey teams have featured marvellous players who would be classified in government records as tribals but who have never had to encounter deep mainstream prejudice. That doesn8217;t make India a better country than those where such ethnic biases are strong. It simply makes India a different country. Would that Australian authorities and the ICC recognise this.