There Is No Room For Racism: Glenn McGrath On The Unfortunate Turn Of Events In Sydney

Former Australia speedster, Glenn McGrath is disappointed with the events that have transpired over the third and the fourth day of the ongoing Test match between India and Australia regarding the racism which the Indian players have faced from the spectators at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).

On Saturday (January 9), post stumps on Day 3, the Indian team management lodged a complaint to match referee, David Boon, after two of their pacers – Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj – received racial abuses from the crowd.

The matter got uglier on the fourth day ahead of the tea break, when Mohammed Siraj asked his captain, Ajinkya Rahane, and the umpires to stop the game as the pacer was being constantly subjected to racists remarks by some people behind him while fielding at the fine leg boundary. The umpires intervened along with the fourth umpire was on the field.

The play was halted for eight to ten minutes as the New South Wales policemen at the ground evicted about half a dozen people from the stadium after Siraj, playing just his second Test, showed courage in his decision to take a stand against the insinuating comments.

Later in the day, journalist Boria Majumdar took to his Twitter account revealing that the young pacer was called a ‘brown dog’ by a section of spectators.

Breaking: I am appalled to say Siraj was called a brown dog today in Sydney. This is what was said today morning to go with all the other abuse. Just throwing the spectators out isn’t enough. We need some real action if we have to stop this. Watch @SportsTodayofc 5@5 for more.

— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) January 10, 2021

That’s not how we are as a culture: Glenn McGrath

Glenn McGrath calls for strict legal action against the culprits as he believes that there should be no room for racism in sport and in society. The legendary pacer suggests that a thorough investigation should be done and people sitting in that section should be interviewed.

“If there were racist comments, they should be prosecuted because there is no room for that. They should get those guys and find out what happened and interview the people around,” Glenn McGrath told Sony Sports Networks.

The 50-year-old says that such events put not only the cricket board but the Aussies as countrymen in a bad light. McGrath, who took 949 international wickets, reckons this is not their culture and hopes for things to get better.

“That looks bad not only for Cricket Australia, SGG trust but all Australians and that’s not how we are as a culture. That’s not the way we want to be viewed from other countries,” the former pacer added.

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