I was just reading this news report in today’s Times of India, Race attacks on Indian students rise in Australia , (report). Petrol bombs, stabbing, assault, burgelry etc. This report also remined of me of a friend’s comment who had moved to Australia from Canada, she mentioned that Canada is really a multi cultural society with hardly any issues of race, but in Australia she could feel the racisim every day.

This got me thinking of why very few people like the Australian team despite them being very good. Everyone used to love West Indies even when they were beating everyone up, but its not the same with the Aussies, why?

The answer might lie in the way the Aussies behave and also in the news report mentioned above. I am not saying that a particular player has been guilty of racisim, but probably the thinking of an Austrailan itself is such. This has been reflected in Darrell Hair no-balling Murali, his ball tampering charges against Pakistan at the Oval, Hair never had problem with a ‘white’ team. Darren Lehman was found guilty of racisim. Jayasuriya has accused the Aussies of calling him ‘ a black bastard’. The general arrogant behavior of Ponting, Clarke and co, which at times borders on racisim also reflects the same thing.

The current Australian side is amongst the worst ones. Peter Roebuck has already said that Ponting has turned the Australian Cricket team into a pack of wild dogs, an opinion to which a lot of people agree. Recently in the IPL final Symonds was seen chatting up Manish Pandey, I am sure no niceties were exchanged. Yonis Khan has gone on the record saying why the Australian teams have a problem with the Asian teams. Considering all this it was pretty hilarious when the Australians accused Harbhajan Singh of racist comments.

A national team represents a nation, for a lot of people the players are the only people they know from a particular country. Hence its imperative for the players to behave in a manner appropriate for a representative of the country. For the last 2 decaded India has been blessed with Sachin and Kumble as their reprentative, on the other hand Australia has Ponting and Symonds.

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