Very often when you hear about racism in Australia, it is the crowd behaving in a barbaric way towards a player of colour – the Makhaya Ntini incident immediately comes to mind.

But in no space of time at all the issue is up again with India’s Harbhajan Singh being cited for racism, this time against the crowd.

The first incident, which has been well documented, was deplorable and very badly managed by the authorities. I always wondered how long it would take for a repeat performance. Given that Harbhajan is guaranteed the support of the Indian Board, are we surprised?

'Are we dealing with the real issues or are we just papering over the cracks?'


It makes you wonder about the whole 'racism' thing. Yes there are still idiots and clearly Singh is joining them but are we dealing with the problem in the right way? Are we dealing with the real issues or are we just papering over the cracks?

Obviously, this is all compensatory behaviour but what is Singh’s gripe, tinged with such a level of petulance that the risk of another ban does not bother him? What part is the crowd’s behaviour playing in all of this? Are we OK with the level of provocation that we call gamesmanship and what it is doing to the players? They are, after all, only human, although this is by no means a justification for such behaviour.

It is about time a tougher line was taken by the controlling bodies and that they were given the support they need from various stakeholders, not just in the sport but in society as a whole. After all, what happens out there is a reflection of that society.

I am afraid if this doesn’t happen, we might end up in a tragic episode of Star Wars. But, then again, I am not sure even Darth Vader would want to be involved in that one.