Open Mic : Racism In World Sports

I think the word "racism" has been used in world sport more often than not in the past decade. It was a taboo before when players themselves engaged in rather "racist behaviour."

But, racism seems to rear its ugly head into sport far too often these days—and I'm going to discuss its impact on cricket and football.

Muttiah Muralitharan, the highest wicket taker in the world, arguably one of the finest bowlers ever to have bowled in the game of cricket, has been racially abused by none other than the Australians.

Now, for a country which takes a moral high road on most occasions—the actions which almost made Murali never play cricket again in Australia, were despicable, and in very bad taste.

Rewind back to India's tour of Australia and the infamous "monkey" episode in the controversial test match at Sydney. The players involved—Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds—were no saints, but let's look at the reality—why on earth would Harbhajan call Symonds a "monkey," and mean it as a racial slur?

I know that racism is a sensitive issue but the Australians in the above stated issues behaved very poorly, and by the Australians, I mean, the Australian media, players, and the fans.

In one instance, they clearly abused Murali (by monkey chanting and throwing eggs at the Sri Lankan players' bus), and in the other, they accused a player of being "a racist" from a country which suffered enough racial abuse during its colonial rule.

So, in those cases, I do feel that teams like Australia and South Africa, who really know what racism means in the true sense, should apply some common sense while on the ground, and also should make the fans understand what sort of behaviour is expected from them.

India should also follow the lead, and I know for a fact that fans who jumped like monkeys while directing their actions at Andrew Symonds from the crowd during a match in India were banned for life from entering that stadium.

When it comes to world football, racism is not something new.

A number of players have been racially abused, and there are clubs which many have deemed to have racist policies. These are problems which are a lot more serious compared to cricket, where a lack of understanding among most players causes problems.

In football, most players and fans clearly know what racism is, and they understand what racism entails (I'm saying this as an Indian because in India, racism is not understood by most).

Monkey-chanting at players by fans, and players' racially abusing their opponents seems to be common place somehow.

There is only one way to stamp out racism, and that is to have a zero-tolerance policy towards it.

In my opinion, if a player does racially abuse his opponent, he should be banned for five years. If a fan or a group of fans racially abuse a player, they should be banned from entering a world stadium for life.

In cases like Italy's, teams who have such supporters should play a majority of the games behind closed doors. That is the only way fans would understand their mistake.

If England should get credit for anything, it is for having fans who aren't racist. I see fans cheering equally for the likes of Kolo Toure, William Gallas, Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie, and Gael Clichy in Arsenal, which is simply fantastic.

If only other countries could follow the lead set by England, racism could be stamped out.

I know for a fact that the Eastern bloc in Europe has fans who could be partisan in this sense, and I also know that certain fans in Italy (a country where a lot of the fans in the upper tiers of stadium are rogues) suffer from this, but if the authorities follow a zero-tolerance policy, I feel that the problem could be solved.

Racism is a delicate and sensitive topic in sport, and it should be handled with care. If handled right, this evil in society, not only in sport, will never show its ugly head ever again.