Kumble & Co tutor CA officials on Hindi racial abuse
Melbourne (PTI): Anil Kumble and his teammates squeezed out time from their busy practice schedule to help Cricket Australia's security officials pick up Hindi words with a racial undertone.
CA anti-racism officer Peter Young said he expected a 90,000-strong boisterous, yet well-behaved, crowd in the series opener at the Melbourne Cricket Ground but warned racial abuse, whether in Hindi or English, would result in immediate ejection and life ban for offenders.
Asserting that such abuse in Hindi is as offensive as it is in English, Young said he and a few other security officials met Kumble and a few other cricketers, besides the support staff, to find out which Hindi words or taunts could be racist to them.
"We wanted to know what terms or expressions in their language would be considered offensive or racist," he said.
Young said CA had not left any stone unturned in its effort to weed out the menace and it would brook no such nonsense.
"Undercover anti-racism police, who will be in the crowd at the MCG for the Boxing Day Test, will then be told what phrases to listen for.
"If they hear those phrases considered to be racist or offensive, then those responsible will be ejected from the ground. They face life bans from ever re-entering the ground."
"It is a real celebration of cricket and we expect the crowd to be in a great mood as they always are at the Boxing Day Test," he added.
Australian vice-captain Adam Gilchrist has thrown his weight behind CA and said offenders should not be shown any mercy.
"If those are the rules, those are the rules, and we are very supportive of anything stamping out racism in Australia and around the world," Gilchrist was quoted as saying by the 'Herald Sun'.
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