(Updated below)
Cultural relativism has finally entered the world of Cricket. The Indian case that the word ‘bastard’ is as reprehensible as any racist epithet is predicated upon this recognition. Recall, Harbhajan Singh is alleged to have called Andrew Symonds, who has native Aussie ancestry, a monkey. Indians, now, allege that Brad Hogg used the ‘bastard’ term for Kumble and Dhoni.
So what’s more offensive? Monkey for a native Aussie or bastard for an Indian!
The match refereeship, a perk for the good ole boys of the ex-cricketer network, is woefully inadequate, as Mike Dennis and Mike Proctor have proved.
Do we need Anthropologists as Match referees? Do we need cultural sensitivity training, including linguistic nuances, for Match referees? In either case, I, along with several friends of mine, am volunteering our services. Per diem and beer money would be payment enough.
Interestingly, today’s crisis in cricket actually focuses on a different question. As Indians would phrase it: why does the word of two Indians (including the unquestionable gentleman Sachin Tendulkar) possess less value inherently than the words of three Aussies? Mike Proctor is willing to believe the latter. Kumble and his mates aren’t pleased.
Let me be clear. If I got to choose between Kumble (by all accounts an honorable man) and a guy whose nickname is Punter, the choice is clear.
Much typing, breast beating and effigy burning has been done everywhere. Rajaraman has asked relevant questions and gotten the Punter treatment. I don’t want to add my two cents to that.
On matters cricket, on and off the field, as always let me turn to my man Peter Roebuck. His piece in the Sydney Morning Herald calls for the sacking of Ricky ‘Punter’ Ponting. His entire article is pretty damning:
RICKY PONTING must be sacked as captain of the Australian cricket team. If Cricket Australia cares a fig for the tattered reputation of our national team in our national sport, it will not for a moment longer tolerate the sort of arrogant and abrasive conduct seen from the captain and his senior players over the past few days. Beyond comparison it was the ugliest performance put up by an Australian side for 20 years. The only surprising part of it is that the Indians have not packed their bags and gone home. There is no justice for them in this country, nor any manners.
That the senior players in the Australian team are oblivious to the fury they raised among many followers of the game in this country and beyond merely confirms their own narrow and self-obsessed viewpoint. Doubtless they were not exposed to the messages that poured in from distressed enthusiasts aghast to see the scenes of bad sportsmanship and triumphalism presented at the SCG during and after the Test. Pained past players rang to express their disgust. It was a wretched and ill-mannered display and not to be endured from any side, let alone an international outfit representing a proud sporting nation.
Make no mistake, it is not only the reputation of these cricketers that has suffered. Australia itself has been embarrassed. The notion that Ponting can hereafter take the Australian team to India is preposterous. He has shown not the slightest interest in the well-being of the game, not the slightest sign of diplomatic skills, not a single mark of respect for his accomplished and widely admired opponents.
As Roebuck so wisely concludes: “It is possible to love a country and not its cricket team.” Now what do I, who sought Aussie cricket citizenship, do. I am in danger of having neither my country nor my cricket team. But that’s a dilemma for another day.
Today we need to meditate on cultural relativism. May I say this moment would not have arrived if Indian rupee hadn’t become relatively more appealing than Australian dollar. Now let us not forget what actually makes cultural relativism possible: the strength of Indian economy.
UPDATE: Roebuck had another column yesterday where he said:
INDIA have been dudded. No one with the slightest enthusiasm for cricket will take the least satisfaction from the victory secured by the local team in an SCG Test that entertained spectators, provided some excellent batting but left a sour taste in the mouth.
It was a match that will have been relished only by rabid nationalists and others for whom victory and vengeance are the sole reasons for playing sport.
Why is that only Aussie cricketers and cricket administrators don’t see this?
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