India vs Australia: Spectators warned against racism as ‘show us your visa’ chants are heard at MCG
Racism exists in sports and despite numerous efforts by the governing bodies, the incidents of racial abuse haven’t fully been eliminated no matter what the sport is. In a fresh controversy which took place during the third Test match between India and Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the spectators have been warned against racist chants.
The ongoing India – Australia series has seen the two sets of players indulge in healthy banter at regular intervals but the statements used by the players haven’t yet been considered ‘over the line’. Both Virat Kohli and Tim Paine have attempted to get into the opposition players’ heads, but only through fun-filled banters. The words used by some of the spectators, however, haven’t been deemed healthy by the officials.
Chants of ‘show us your visa’ were heard at the MCG for the first two games of the Boxing Day Test. The footage of one of such incidents was acquired by ESPNCricinfo and was handed over to the Cricket Australia, which has further forwarded it to Victoria Police and stadium management.
“Victoria Police and stadium security are monitoring the behaviour of the crowd in that section of the stadium,” a CA spokesperson was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo. “And have had several discussions with those fans in that bay to remind them about appropriate crowd behaviour, as per venue entry terms and conditions,”
Some other chants like “Kohli’s a wanker”, were also heard from a section of the crowd but the same wasn’t deemed serious enough to have the officials issue the crowd a warning. CA’s ticket and entry conditions have specific guidelines against any sort of racist chants. The instructions read:
“I will not engage in any conduct (whether through the use of language, gestures or otherwise) which is likely to offend, insult, humiliate, intimidate, threaten, disparage or vilify any other person (including any player, match official, other official or other patron) on the basis of their gender, race, religion, culture, colour, sexual orientation, descent or national or ethnic origin.
“If I fail to comply with this condition, I may be refused admission to, or evicted from, the Venue by any Authorised Person without refund or compensation of any kind; and I must deliver up any and all Tickets that I have in my possession at the request of an Authorised Person. In addition, I acknowledge that the failure to comply with this condition may result in the imposition of other sanctions (such as being banned from the Venue in the future) and possible further action including criminal prosecution.”
Globally, the issue of racism is on the spur after Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly was racially abused in a Serie A football game against Inter Milan. Not long back, Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling had raised his voice against the English media for fuelling racism
