Cricket officials face off over Symonds racism claims

[beetle]

AUSTRALIAN skipper Ricky Ponting has defended Andrew Symonds' racism claims as former players turned on the all-rounder and India branded him a liar. Ratnakar Shetty, the Board of Control for Cricket in India chief executive, last night rejected Symonds' claims that he was racially abused at Vadodara in the one-day match on Thursday. Shetty doubles as the ICC's anti-racism officer in India. Former Australian batsmen Allan Border and Mark Waugh have accused Symonds of being precious after he confirmed he was the victim of monkey chants in Vadodara. "I don't think he has been melodramatic," Ponting said. "Those guys played in a world that was slightly different from the one we play in." Symonds has said he was not "overly affected" by the alleged slurs, but was upset that officials have questioned the legitimacy of his claims. BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah and now Shetty have disputed Symonds' claims. Shetty said he was at Vadodara and there had been so much crowd noise, it was difficult to identify any particular section. "They are chanting and shouting all the time," he said. "Unless there is some proof, how can you pick on it?" Asked if Symonds, the only black member of the Australian team, had misunderstood high-pitched crowd noise for monkey chants, Shetty said: "He could have. "I don't think he understands the language these people talk. "The people are shouting, hooting and booing the whole time, even Indian players. "It is not something which is directed to an individual." Shetty said it was significant Cricket Australia had not complained or opposed the BCCI denials that Symonds was taunted. "There is nothing to this situation as Cricket Australia has made it very clear that it is not making any show of it," Shetty said. "Even match referee (Chris Broad) has not been very clear on what has happened." Shetty said Indian cricket's anti-racism code, launched last year, did more harm than good. "Sometimes I think it plays a negative role," he said. "The moment you put up a sign telling people don't do this, don't do that, there will be some who have fun doing it." Ponting said it would be disappointing if someone was accusing Symonds of lying. "We all know that is not the case," he said. "It wouldn't be written up in a match report if it wasn't true. "Referees would be very cautious of making those allegations against anyone when it is such a sensitive issue. "I think the allegation against Symmo is a little bit disappointing and unfair." Meanwhile, Australia will seek to wipe India with a 5-1 series drubbing in the seventh and final Future Cup game tonight in Mumbai. Opener Matthew Hayden remains a 50-50 proposition with a hip injury, but Ponting said Australia had placed its rotation policy on hold. 'There won't be many changes. There might be a change, if that," Ponting said. "We feel we have built some really good momentum so far." http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22592922-2882,00.html

[beetle]

Charges leveled by Symonds are baseless: Vadodra Police Commissioner The ICC [images] has taken a serious note of the alleged racial abuse that Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds [images] had been subjected to by a section of the crowd during the fifth One-Day International at Vadodra on October 11. The ICC chief executive had earlier said he had written to the BCCI, asking that body to explain whether Symonds had in fact been targeted for racist abuse by the crowd. The BCCI, and especially its secretary Niranjan Shah, have taken the tack of saying no such letter has yet been received. When contacted this afternoon, an angry Shah told Rediff.com: "Why should I tell the media whether we've received any letter from the ICC or not? Do we have to tell everything to the media? I don't think it's necessary. Why don't you ignore the whole issue? What is there to write about? I just can't understand why is the media so keen to keep the issue burning? Do you know what the spectators were saying?" Vadodra Police Commissioner C.P. Thakur told this correspondent: "We've inquired into the matter and it's confirmed that the charges leveled by Symonds against the crowds for having racially abused him are baseless. "There is no grain of truth whatsoever in what Symonds has accused the crowds of. The cops and other security personnel on duty in the stands have vouched that the people were actually chanting the hymns of Lord Ganesha [images] in Gujarati and Hindi, something like Ganapati Bapa Moriya, and not abusing Symonds. Symonds mistook their chanting for racial abuse because he couldn't understand what they're saying. Obviously he can't understand Gujarati and Hindi languages." ICC asks India about racism reports Interestingly, BCCI chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty told Rediff.com: "Yes, we've received a letter from the ICC chief executive the day before yesterday. But we need time to look into the matter and reply to him, as we're very busy with matches and other things right now." Shah confirmed that Shetty had received "something" in writing from the ICC. "We'll have to refer the matter to our anti-apartheid commissioner. According to the ICC, every country should have an anti-apartheid commissioner to look into the issues pertaining to racism and racial abuses. We'll reply to the ICC after inquiring into everything. "It'll take some time. What the media and Symonds shouldn't forget is that the Australian crowds are far more dangerous and volatile than their Indian counterparts." On another front, Shah said the BCCI has asked volatile seamer Shantakumaran Sreesanth [images] to tone down his behavior. "Yes, we've already told Sreesanth to cool down and not to get too excited every now and then. And he has changed his behavior, hasn't he? "But I don't understand why the media is so much interested in such things? Why don't you report on the cricket only? We're not supposed to answer all your questions simply because you media guys want to make an issue out of anything," added Shah, clearly incensed though it is not clear what there is about following up on a story that should incense the board secretary. http://ia.rediff.com/cricket/2007/oct/16letter.htm

[suma25]

this niranjan shah is one big idiot

[coffee_rules]

Ponting is the bigger idiota. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'No ill-feeling with Indians' By: Harit N Joshi October 16, 2007 Brett Lee says that Symonds racism incident has not affected relationship between the teams Brett Lee at a promotional even yesterday. pic/atul kambleTHOUGH the Australians have won the Future Cup, the one-day series will be remembered for S Sreesanth’s antics both on and off the field, Harbhajan Singh and Irfan Pathan’s war of words with the Aussies and the alleged racial slur against Andrew Symonds. Right spirit But Australia’s pace ace Brett Lee feels India have played the game in right spirit. “It is perfectly fine. They have played extremely competitive cricket and I see nothing wrong in what they have displayed during the series,” Lee told MiD DAY on the sidelines of an event to announce his partnership with Melbourne-based Deakin University. Lee agreed that he has never witnessed so much of aggression in the Indian team before, but denied that it has anything to do with India’s historic World Twenty20 triumph recently. “I don’t think it is because of their T20 win. They played really well and were the deserving champions,” he said. “The way they beat us in the semis was magnificent. It was extra ordinary cricket,” he added. No ill-feeling The speedster does not think the Symonds episode will affect the relationship between the two teams. “There is no ill feeling about the incident between both teams. There have never been any problems in the past and there will none in the future. “Off the field we are good friends and there are no grudges,” Lee said. Meanwhile, Australian captain Ricky Ponting said it was the Indian media that blew the racist comment issue out of proportion. No place for racism “It wasn’t Symonds who was going around making the noise. It was the Indian media. We want to eradicate such comments from every sport,” said Ponting. However, if Ponting checks his facts, he will realise that it was the Australian media that started it all and the Indian media was merely following up.

[Rajiv]

Jeez man, media really loves these things Lets play the game and get on with it

[Lurker]

Another reason why Warne should have controlled his harmones. This freaki-onting would never have become skipper.