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India’s last tour of Australia saw a group of Australian fans hurling racial abuse at Mohammed Siraj in Sydney. The visitors acted strongly against the incident and even Cricket Australia condemned it.
CA to take strict measures against racial abusers during Border-Gavaskar Trophy
India’s last trip to Australia was a memorable one. An injury-stricken unit bounced back from a debacle in Adelaide and went on to win the series 2-1. However, there was a bitter instance as well that made headlines not only in Australian media but back in India as well. The third Test, in Sydney, saw a group of Australian fans hurling racial abuse at Mohammed Siraj, who was playing just the second game of his Test career. The visitors acted strongly against the incident and even Cricket Australia condemned it.
In the ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy, CA has come up with a Multicultural Action Plan to battle racism. Michael Napper, who has been the driving force behind the initiative, explains the roadmap to make Australian cricket free from racism.
“I think first and foremost, we have to acknowledge that racism still exists in society and hasn’t gone away. It’s still there. And it’s going to be there for some time, unfortunately,” Michael Napper was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
“We recognise that sport should be free of that. And it should just be a place where everyone can come and celebrate, feel welcome, and be part of that. So I’m really hopeful that we have moved beyond all those infamous incidents.”
Napper said no mercy shall be shown to the people engaging in such acts and will be removed immediately from the venue and will also face legal actions.
“If we can identify and know who has done an act like that, whatever that act might be, they would immediately be asked to leave. I’m saying that politely, they’ll be removed. And that will happen within the venue itself. They would then be part of… call it a legal process where we would look at a potential banning order.
“And so they can’t come to cricket going forward. If it happened in grassroots and playing cricket, it would be a similar thing, we would go through a tribunal process, and there’d be an investigation. And likewise, if they were found to have made racist remarks or comments, there would be some sort of sanction, whether that be a ban, a fine or something like that. It’s something we are taking very seriously,” he added.
