Aussies – stop ‘monkeying’ around, will ya?

Aussies – stop ‘monkeying’ around, will ya?

A lot of noise is being made out of the ‘monkey’ chants heaped on Andrew Symonds during the recently concluded ODI series. Something that started out with a small bunch of spectators has taken an ugly leap with the whole of Cricket Australia, fans from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia and a lot of present and past cricketers getting involved. Ponting has always been a moaner and he seems to be the torchbearer in making this an issue, even though Gilchrist had clarified that the Australian team will not be making a song and dance out of this. The frenzy has reached such dizzying heights that Australian fans are already threatening Indians of ‘payback’, Sri Lankan cricket authorities have already expressed their concern that they will be the first to face the wrath when they tour down under.

I was discussing this issue with my wife, and we were thinking why only he was called ‘monkey’ and no one else and why ‘monkey’ and nothing else. The conclusion was unanimous, with that big white paint on his lips giving them an inhuman look, those strands which suggest that he hasn’t had a bath for quite some time and gawky grin – he does look like one! My wife was curios, was he always like this? So we googled for some for his images and there we found a beauty. There was this image of Symonds with his childhood sweetheart Brooke Marshall, and he looked a handsome young man in the snap without the paint and the locks. Now if he wants to look this way, he should be prepared to take what people think of it.

Intrigued by the whole episode I did some digging, to find why this was taken as a ‘racist’ remark a not just a taunt. What I found is interesting. The aboriginals (native Australians) were considered inhuman (you can read it as ‘monkeys’) till much part of the 20^th century, it only changed when the ‘White Australia policy’ was repealed in the 1960s. Symonds happens to have an aboriginal mother and a white father, so you see Symonds is a half breed and the word ‘monkey’ must be reminding him of the trauma that his clan might have undergone during the last few centuries. The point here is that, it’s not the fans who are the culprits for making this a racial issue. It’s that wide mouthed Ponting and the Australian media who are responsible for this. Australia is the most racist country in the world, they treat the aboriginals as monkeys and now when some irate Indian fans accidentally bump onto that word they create such a hue and cry. Poor Symonds, he is only going to get more exposed due to this whole episode! I am sure the fans were ignorant about Symonds’s background; they just went by looks and found some words to taunt a dangerous player who was carting the Indian bowlers to all parts of the ground. Even some of the past cricketers (mind you Australian cricketers – Waugh and Border) were surprised as to why Ponting and Symonds were acting so ‘precious’! I don’t want to read too much into this, but probably Ponting has a sense of guilt over the treatment of aboriginals by his community (The Australian Whites) and sees this opportunity to shed some of that!

Getting back to the ‘monkey’ chants, we are forgetting something that happened not too long ago. The Australians have always been preaching about ‘being prepared to take what you give’. But they don’t seem be following this at their end. It was almost a decade ago when McGrath called Jayasuriya a black monkey. Isn’t this double standard by the Aussies? When they taunt someone its fine, come on it’s just a jibe – get over it. But when they end up at the receiving end, they just can’t take it. Everyone ends up whining, with Ponting leading the pack. These morons should be told that respect has to be earned and it goes both ways. Its high time these Aussie cricketers stop jumping and whining around, its time to have their feet on the ground and their tail between their legs…err I meant hold their horses.