Cricket: 'Terrorist' slur raises racism issue again

Dean Jones

SYDNEY - Dean Jones was once virtually carried off the pitch an exhausted hero after scoring a test cricket double-century in blistering Indian heat.

His brash batsmanship thrilled Australian crowds and destroyed opposition bowling attacks during a 52-test career.

He was even called on by New Zealand as an adviser for their 2003 World Cup campaign.

But yesterday his photo adorned the front pages for all the wrong reasons, after he joined names such as Lleyton Hewitt, Justin Harrison and Darren Lehmann on the list of Australian sporting quotes of shame.

It's cost him his US$2000-a-day ($3235) job with Dubai-based television company Ten Sports, thrown his future commentary prospects into serious doubt and again highlighted the ugly issue of racism in Australian sport.

It was a throwaway line, delivered from the back of a sweltering Colombo commentary box during the Sri Lanka-South Africa test this week, when Jones thought viewers were watching advertisements.

"The terrorist has got another wicket," Jones said, in reference to a catch taken by bearded South African batsman Hashim Amla, a devout Muslim.

To Jones' horror, he discovered that while Sri Lankan viewers were watching ads, the cricket was still being viewed live in South Africa, where the comment was clearly heard.

There was an outcry from around the cricketing world. A furious Cricket South Africa chief executive Gerald Majola called for Jones' immediate sacking, Jones' employer dismissed him and the International Cricket Council called the comment "completely unacceptable".

Arriving home in Melbourne, a contrite Jones, 45, faced the media and said he was "so sorry for making such a stupid comment".

Amla had accepted his telephone apology and Jones insisted he was friends with several Muslim Pakistani players.

But the damage was done, joining other entries in the hall of shame:

* Waratahs forward Justin Harrison, suspended for three Super 12 matches for calling Cats winger Chumani Booi a "black c ... " in 2005.

* Australian cricketer Darren Lehmann, given a five-match ban for exactly the same two words at Sri Lankan players after being dismissed in 2003.

* Tennis player Lleyton Hewitt, who attempted to have a black line umpire removed during a US Open match against American James Blake in 2001, with the comment: "look at him and you tell me what the similarity is" (with Blake).

Racism in Australian sport has never been far from the headlines. Former Kiwis league player Olsen Filipaina this year recalled often being racially abused on the field in Sydney in the 1980s.

Also this year there were the Cronulla race riots, and claims from South African cricketers that they were racially abused by Australian crowds.

The Sydney Morning Herald took a dim view of Jones' comment yesterday, devoting front and back page stories to it. Journalist Alex Brown said racial insensitivity was "a real and serious issue in Australian sport".

"From Lehmann to Justin Harrison to Lleyton Hewitt - and the numerous controversies surrounding many Aboriginal athletes - our reputation as a fair and tolerant sporting nation has taken a battering in recent years," Brown wrote in the Herald.

"Yet the biggest problem is not how we are perceived outside our borders but rather how we perceive ourselves.

"If, after the Jones controversy, we tolerate the outburst and roll our collective eyes at the whistleblower, we have a problem far more serious than the overseas perception."

- NZPA