Cricket is the most recent sport to come under scrutiny after football, golf, and even rugby failed to offer people of color an equitable playing field.
Cricket is a game with colonial origins, yet it has always been seen as a powerful unifying factor, regardless of cultural differences, let alone color.
We present 10 instances where racism rocked the Gentleman’s Game in light of recent societal events, where new trends are raising their ugly heads to damage the legacy of a centuries-old sport.
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#1 ‘Monkeygate’ Controversy
‘Monkeygate’, by far one of cricket’s biggest and most talked-about racism controversies of all time, occurred during the second Test of the 2007-08 Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
In a game marred by Australia’s obnoxious on-field behavior, Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds accused Harbhajan Singh of calling him a monkey, a racially insensitive remark.
Despite the fact that the two later buried the hatchet and became colleagues at the Mumbai Indians, everything went wrong when Symonds’ 2018 interview with ESPNCricinfo irritated Singh.
#2 Daren Sammy
This is an incident in which racism in sports has been opened like a Pandora’s Box.
Daren Sammy, a West Indian all-rounder, said that during his time with Sunrisers Hyderabad, he and his Sri Lankan colleague Thisara Perera were dubbed ‘kalu’ by his teammates, a slur commonly used to denote to those with dark skin in India.
While he initially thought the phrase meant’stallion’ in Hindi, he only learned the correct meaning after watching an episode of comedian Hasan Minhaj’s news variety show, Patriot Act.
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Sammy later announced on Twitter that he had ‘an intriguing talk’ with one of the guys and appears to have buried the hatchet.
Also Read: ODI Records: Who has the quickest five-for in ODIs?
#3 Dean Jones racist comment on Hashim Amla
Former Australian batsman Dean Jones is now a social media celebrity, but he made headlines in 2006 when he dubbed former South African legend Hashim Amla a “terrorist.”
During the second innings of the last Test, Jones, one of the panel’s commentators, made the remark during a commercial break that broadcast in South Africa. Jones was sacked from the commentary panel after receiving widespread criticism for his remark.
#4 Lehmann’s racial slur to Sangakkara
Former Australian player and head coach Darren Lehmann had a racial meltdown against Sri Lanka during the 2003-04 VB Series at The Gabba in 2003.
After being stumped by Sangakkara off Arnold’s delivery, Lehmann stormed off to the locker room, yelling “black c***s!” One of the Sri Lankan authorities overheard this. Surprisingly, Lehmann was fired after issuing an apology.
#5 Moeen Ali’s shocking revelation
When English all-rounder Moeen Ali released his book in 2018, he made a shocking discovery.
The World Cup champion said that an Australian player who he did not name referred to him as “Osama” during the 2015 Ashes series. The unidentified player flatly refuted the accusation even as the individual cricket boards conducted their own internal investigations.
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