even though the author is right in pointing out that sledging is a part of aussie culture and should not be taken seriously, he should also keep in mind that as world champions and global ambassadors for the game, they have a responsibility to play by the rules and adhere to the code of conduct whether or not the laws are enforced by the umpires. cricket is not an aussie sport like the various winter football games, it is followed by people in other countries and there are laws governing the game which are common to all without any exceptions. so instead of giving excuses, it will be better to teach the next generation of aussie players that sledging is unacceptable in general.playing tough is one thing, but playing dirty, that's a different thing altogether.
Lets see the reality here and not give lame excuses that all this bad behaviour is because of Aussies agressive approach to the game, then it would mean that nobody else in anyother game have agresiveness. I hope people do watch other games like NBA, NFL, Rugby, Soccer, Tennis to name a few, these games are played more professionally and agressively and need a lot more physical endurance than Cricket. I think all this was created first by the SLOPPY MANAGEMENT which is totally BIASED by the ICC, by being so LIENENT to the Aussies. Second I think the Aussie players have a tremendous backup from their Board ACB, just think how the Indian board handled the Kiran More Jumping issue to name one. Thirdly other cricket board dont stand up to the Aussies and lodge a complaint, but remember your backbone less boards the Aussies do demand practice teams that they want. Fourthly for quiet a few years now the performance of the other teams are so bad that Aussies have been crowned the Kings of the game, which is not good for the game, its time others pull up their socks or face this Arrogancy from Aussies. Last but not the least they have better Media Backup.
Why can't Malcolm Speed and Gray take any action against these cheap rated Aussies? Despite they being the higher officials of the World Governing Body for cricket, they just make statements in the press and say "Nothing official about it". This is ridiculous. This isn't the 1st time they are left free for such incidences. Nobody had forgotten what Michael Slater did to Rahul Dravid. Its a pity that the King of Sledging being the captain. Steve Waugh according to me is a good player but he is the worst sledger. Except Mark Taylor and Mark Waugh I don't remember any decent player from Aus in the past 10 years.
Daniel et al, If it was the culture outside of cricket in Australia that was to be blamed(complimented you might say) for your so called defense of the brash behaviour, here's my 2 cents. The Australians on a daily basis may be happy to hear "nice things" said about their girlfirends, wives and mothers. Agreed. Let Ponting say nice things about McGrath's ailing wife. Let Lehmann talk about the beauty of color to Symonds. But, if they want to say things about someone's near/dear from another country, they'd do well to shut up and do what they do best - play cricket and drink beer, because it might be the nature of that country's citizen to knock down people who basically talk crap! I will then come out with a write-up on why so-and-so can't not knock down people who talk crap simply because its in their society to do it and its pretty much accepted all over. The Malcoms and the Sutherlands can make all the phone calls they want, but hey, I come from a lan where the common man forgets he is hungry and watches cricket! Any number of Agent Malcoms or Agent Proctors cant deny the fact that over 80% of money in world cricket comes from the subcontinent.
Daniel usually writes very sound fact-based articles. This one too is fact based, and almost convinces us that we should allow the Aussies to behave as they want to.
However, if Aussie society as a whole is so prone to the "sledging culture", why limit this to only cricket? Why dont Aussies take up sledging in other games like tennis and Olympic sports?
The fact simply is that in these other games, the law strictly forbids any cranky behavior, whereas cricket for far too long has permitted "cultural" excesses. Its time to crack down on such behavior, and apply the same rule all over. Lets not excuse any behavior on the excuse of culture.
Guys, welcome to a global world. We need to adapt ourselves to the "permitted" behavior which varies according to the place we are in/the sport we chose to play. Its as simple as not expecting idlis to be served in McDonalds! :)
Sledging is not something new with this Australian team. It is a matter of cultural issue with the Aussies. Australia asa country was an island of convicts who were deported from various western countries. The cultural backdrop thus plays an important role in their behaviour.
RE:Cultural Issue
by kerry on Jun 02, 2003 03:26 PM
sledging is not a new thing with all cricketing countries, but cultural tolerance seems to be lacking in yours, about time you learnt racial tolerance don't you think you go on and on about how the white race continualy racialy abuses the asian cricketers but I think this is done more by your own,nobody is knocking your own cultural practices, so leave the aussie cultures alone and besides not all aussies watch cricket and drink beer they are quite a diverse race of peope with lots of diverse cultures to which have been accepted, a lot of imports live and continue to move here including a lot of your own country people, so open your eyes and stop being a racist.
What a stupid article! Daniel's article was something I looked fwd. to but this one smacks of escapism! Daniel being an Australian himself tried to defend the actions of McGrath and others....but let him answer this question: How can one law apply to Australians and a different for others (read Asians)? While the top two guys of ICC atleast were sensible to criticize the Australians, the Australian PM is a fool to support the players, what a hypocrite!
Aussies is the worst team when we rank world teams according to team behaviours. This is a joke to look at Aussies from a positive angle. Indians on the other hand are very rudley punished even for very small mistakes. Saurav has been mage a bakra many a time for his behaviour . I believe he is lot better than these aussies team,ironically he is punished more number of times than summing up punishments of all team members of Aussies.
I suppose Daiel Laidlow believes that he has done a good job of explaining the behaviour of the Aussies, whether he tries to give it a cultural explanation or whenther he tries to explain it as form of aggression. The fact is that the sledging used by the Aussies is not only offensive as in using 4 lettered words but also at times racist. I think the Aussie behaviour is unpardonable and atleast let the press not to try to defend it when they are practically running amok with their offensive nature. I wonder if the umpires would have kept quiet if the same thing had happened between any other team other than Australia, it appears that even umpires have started accepting this attitude by the Aussies as the norm. It was the same press that was running in support of Steve Waugh when Ganguly used tactics normally used by Waugh when they were in India. I suppose we have to pause and think why is it that most cricketing teams and good players seem to have problems only with Australia when they can play matches calmly against any other team. Lastly, the Aussies do not have a choice but to respect Sarwan because he has beaten them at their own game. Navin
