DailyExpertNews
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Two years after claiming to have been racially insulted at a cricket match, an Indian fan has shed light on how the sport is tackling discrimination in Australia.
Krishna Kumar was attending the third day of the 2021 Australia vs India test match at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) when he heard chants from “curry munchers” targeting Indian players and fans.
He returned to the SCG on the fifth day of testing, when he was allegedly racially profiled by security personnel.
According to Kumar, that involved being told to “go back where you came from” by an employee who was looking at the anti-racism banners he had hoped to take down.
He also said he was subjected to an “unnecessary” two-and-a-half-minute body search with a metal detector and what he said was a stricter security presence for Indian fans once inside the stadium.
In the aftermath of the match, Kumar, who lives in Sydney with his wife and two children, lodged two complaints: one with Cricket Australia (CA), the sport’s national governing body, and another with Venues NSW, owner of the SCG .
At first, he says, progress was slow and no answers came.
“By the time we closed the complaints, it was March or April 2022, so it was almost 14 to 15 months back and forth and back and forth,” Kumar tells DailyExpertNews Sports. “It kind of took a toll on your mental health.”
Fast forward to 2023 and Kumar is feeling a bit more optimistic.
Since filing complaints through Anti-Discrimination New South Wales – a local government agency that acts as a go-between – he has received a written apology from CA and was told there would be a review of the governing body’s complaints process.
He was also told that his efforts helped CA sign the spectator racism guidelines developed by the Australian Human Rights Commission.
The guidelines identify actions spectators, officials and players can take when they see or experience racism at sporting venues, and also outline measures to prevent racism in the first instance.
CA also gave Kumar the opportunity to contribute to a series of anti-discrimination films, starring Australian players Usman Khawaja and Beth Mooney, which will be screened this season at international competitions hosted by CA.
That included providing pre- and post-production feedback and providing input for the script.
After filing a complaint with Venues NSW, Kumar says he was initially offered event tickets and membership at the SCG.
However, he refused because he wanted “accountability for what happened” rather than compensation.
A few months later, he was told by Venues NSW that staff would receive training on how to interact with customers and there would be greater clarity for spectators on what they can and cannot display on banners.
According to Kumar, Venues NSW said there was no conclusive evidence that a member of the security staff told him to go back to where he came from.
Still, he feels satisfied with the outcome of the two complaints.
“If you stand up for what you think is right, you can get the results you want,” says Kumar.
“If my story can bring that out in terms of: this is what I did and these are the results that I achieved and these are systemic changes that happened,” he adds, “then I think that’s a win in itself.”
Kumar’s account of the racist abuse he received at the SCG two years ago is not an anomaly in Australian cricket.
Khawaja, a first-class batsman and Australia’s first and only Muslim test cricketer, recently told the Sydney Morning Herald that he was called a curry muncher “all the time” during his childhood, adding that, due to his Pakistani heritage, he struggled to pertaining to the Australian cricket team until he was 13 or 14 years old.
“You see cricketers from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, everywhere at a young level [in Australia]Khawaja told SMH.
“But when you get to a high level of performance, it just drops exponentially. It just falls, falls, falls. That’s where I try to work with Cricket Australia and say, ‘Look, guys… you’re investing a lot of money in this, but something isn’t going right. You’ve been doing it for 10 years and nothing has changed.’”
The problem, says Khawaja, is that cricket administrators, selectors and coaches are largely white – even though CA has developed a range of ‘inclusion solutions’ to create new opportunities and ensure diverse representation at clubs across the country.
As for Kumar, he calls Khawaja an “inspiring” figure for South Asian-born Australian residents like himself.
“He has no idea how much he’s actually helping the next generation by making them believe it’s impossible to wear that baggy green,” he says, referring to the iconic green cap worn by Australia’s test cricketers.
Kumar has not been to a test match in Australia since the fifth day of the Australia v India match at the SCG two years ago.
He did, however, attend last year’s T20 World Cup in Australia, which was hosted and overseen by the International Cricket Council, the sport’s global governing body.
His two sons were mascots at the tournament and it was partly because of them, says Kumar, that he chose to pursue his complaints with CA and Venues NSW.
“As a parent you have to put your money where your mouth is,” he adds. “It’s essential to me that they have a better experience when they grow up and that they don’t have to try harder because of their skin color.”