Published: Feb 25, 2016, 10:54 AM (IST)
Edited: Feb 25, 2016, 11:00 AM (IST)
Australia-New Zealand cricket matches invariably witness intense participation of the spectators, as the fans from both the sides are pretty passionate about their cricket. When New Zealand travel Down Under, they are subject to fans’ banter while the same happens to the Australians when they travel to their neighbouring country.
While a little bit of banter is okay, constant hounding of cricketers in not good for the game. During the recently concluded Trans-Tasman and Richard-Hadlee Trophy, which Australia won 2-0 and lost 1-2 respectively, their players were subject to crowd abuse that was extremely vulgar, derogatory and personal. Australian opener David Warner spoke about it on his return to Sydney, claiming his team-mates were targeted by the crowd. READ: Brendon McCullum accused of violating ‘spirit of the game’ in his final ODI.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re home or away, you’re going to cop some form of abuse, but we don’t expect to be hounded for six or seven hours,” he was quoted as saying by the ABC. “Some of the stuff was pretty derogatory and pretty vulgar and the upsetting thing was the fact that, I know if my two daughters were in the crowd I wouldn’t want them listening to that sort of stuff.
“All the other stuff when they call you names that I probably can’t say, you just laugh at it and you go ‘Look, you know what, sometimes I might be one of those’, but you know you’ve just got to bite your tongue.” Warner’s comments throw light on the high demands the game places on the cricketers, as for most part of the year they are on the road away from their families. Such unruly behaviour from the crowd only makes life difficult for them. Hope the fans understand their plight.
