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Is cricket an inclusive sport?

Red

The normal awards that everyone else has
In a discussion about the 2007/08 racial furore widely known as the "Monkeygate Scandal" in which Australia's Andrew Symonds was allegedly called a "monkey" by India spinner Harbhajan Singh, Sadler was asked by Jones if she saw cricket as an "inclusive" sport.

"That's a really good question, I guess no," Sadler said. "Even reflecting on that situation as well and seeing the image of Symmo. I was only a young girl but that was only the person other than other teams internationally that was the only person of colour I would see in an Australian side.

"As a young person growing up in Australia, we're supposed to be so multicultural and multifaceted, why is there very few people of coloured faces that are playing the sport?

"Predominantly, it is a very white privileged sport as well, like white society sport. At the end of the day as well, when these situations happen it can't be just a situation and nobody is learning from that.

"We can't keep having case study after case study, there has to be action taken. At the end of the day as well, it's up to clubs to take that initiative as well."


https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricke...et-confronts-race-issues-20201023-p56834.html

I dunno if this annoys you as much as me, but if Sadler wants to encourage more indigenous participation in Aust cricket, I hope she's down at her own local cricket club facilitating opportunities for indigenous kids to find a cricket pathway. There's literally no point complaining that Andrew Symonds is the only person of colour she saw in an Aust side as a kid.
 

Red

The normal awards that everyone else has
She could have said plenty that’d be productive. Instead she decided to go with the tired, divisive “white privilege” tripe that’s constantly spewed out by the woke media and “activists” like her.
 

Red

The normal awards that everyone else has
ITT: bogan gets pissed off by someone answering a question
No, not pissed with her answering a question. Find her response ridiculous. Offering the question to the forum.

My cricket club currently has 25 Indian and Sri Lankan guys playing in its lower grades. They joined over winter. They’ve reinvigorated our club for the better. Our club struggled to field 4 senior teams last year. Now we have six. It’s a ****ing model of inclusion and diversity. Language barriers, cultural differences. It’s magic. Heaps of fun.

GAGF if you just wanna reduce me to a bogan and say I’m pissed someone answered a question. You’ve got no idea who I am, what I believe, what I do. But I’m sure you’ll get likes from the woke brigade.
 
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NotMcKenzie

International Debutant
'Inclusivity' is a very, very circumstantial thing (as is 'privilege', etc., etc., but if people take denial as proof, there can be no discussion), and subjective factors I'd think influence this sort of perception greatly.

My judgment from my observation of and participation in cricket at low levels is that her perception is caused by a restricted experience, given that there is generally a wide array of people there. One could question why one doesn't see more people of non-European extraction higher up (and what about demographic changes filtering through as well, things have changed since Symonds was playing), but this may lead to explanations that are inconsistantly disfavoured.
 
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Teja.

Global Moderator
I don't see why you are wound up dude. There are massive geographical and economic barriers to cricket in India at least and I wouldn't trust anyone who says cricket in India is inclusive because some working class people have made it.

Maybe other Australians can chime in whether they consider cricket an inclusive sport and whether what she said is ridiculous.
 

Daemon

Request Your Custom Title Now!
but if Sadler wants to encourage more indigenous participation in Aust cricket, I hope she's down at her own local cricket club facilitating opportunities for indigenous kids to find a cricket pathway.
Is she not allowed to criticise certain things just because she has never directly made an attempt to fix that issue? She was asked about cricket on a cricket show so she can't help but give her opinion on it I suppose.

If your criticism is that she should probably offer a bit more insight than pointing out diversity in the side 10 years ago before she goes onto a CA talk show to talk about racism in cricket then yeah you may have a point (I haven't watched it so idk).
 

TheJediBrah

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In my experience local cricket in Melbourne is far from white-dominant. In fact I'd say it's the most diverse mainstream local sport by quite a margin. Far more non-whites play local cricket than local footy IMO. There are a lot of teams and even whole competitions in Melbourne that are entirely subcontinental players, and there's nothing wrong with that.

As far as the "privilege" thing goes, it can definitely be a misused term. It's not like there are thousands of non-white kids that want to play cricket being turned aside because of their race. If your family and friends aren't into cricket then you probably won't be either.
 

TheJediBrah

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to more directly answer the question, yes, cricket is absolutely an inclusive sport in Australia. Anyone who's been involved in local cricket will have recently seen the enormous funding and man-hours put into encouraging girls to play cricket, and supporting womens cricket in general over the past 5-10 years. The implication that there is a pro-white bias or favouring of white players going on at any level, in my lifetime at least, is laughable. Not convinced that she was saying this but people are clearly inferring it.
 

GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
All the evidence points to Australian cricket being dominated by corrupt rich white men like Burgey I'm afraid :ph34r:
 

Red

The normal awards that everyone else has
I don't see why you are wound up dude. There are massive geographical and economic barriers to cricket in India at least and I wouldn't trust anyone who says cricket in India is inclusive because some working class people have made it.
Because in Australia, this opinion gets significant exposure in cricket circles, in spite of it being ill informed and just playing along with the dominant modern left/woke theme (colonialism all bad, white oppression always - blah blah). It’s a narrative directed by people employed to perpetuate discontent among minority groups because that discontent keeps them in a job.

I am all for inclusivity, I harbour no racism. This type of clickbait divisive conversation just ****s me to tears. The reason Symonds is probably the only dark skinned guy she saw was that up til the 1980s Australia was mostly a European outpost. In the 1980s we had significant Asian immigration. For the most part there haven’t been swathes of Asians that keen on cricket (most of the 2nd generation are too busy at med school).

I just don’t get her response. Why don’t more caucasians play more for India, or the West Indies? Because they’re not inclusive? Or just because the majority of ppl there aren’t Caucasian’s?
 

Red

The normal awards that everyone else has
I think she's well within her rights to. Otherwise 99% of people could never criticise 99% of things.
I agree. My point wasn’t that she couldn’t criticise. My point was there’s actually things she could do that might actually be productive, instead of just criticising.
 

harsh.ag

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
I agree. My point wasn’t that she couldn’t criticise. My point was there’s actually things she could do that might actually be productive, instead of just criticising.
Isn't your point that she's wrong about her criticism, and that too in a very tiring manner.

I would agree with that fwiw
 

Line and Length

Cricketer Of The Year
In my experience local cricket in Melbourne is far from white-dominant. In fact I'd say it's the most diverse mainstream local sport by quite a margin. Far more non-whites play local cricket than local footy IMO. There are a lot of teams and even whole competitions in Melbourne that are entirely subcontinental players, and there's nothing wrong with that.

As far as the "privilege" thing goes, it can definitely be a misused term. It's not like there are thousands of non-white kids that want to play cricket being turned aside because of their race. If your family and friends aren't into cricket then you probably won't be either.
And from the other side of the country, I can echo TJB's observations. Without players from the subcontinent , many local clubs would simply fold through lack of numbers. My observations are based on a lengthy playing career and umpiring over 150 games. The latter included a game between a visiting team of young Englishmen (Under 19 if a recall) and an indigenous team. Generally speaking our indigenous kids have a preference for AFL football and basketball but there are no barriers preventing them becoming involved in cricket ... and many of them do.
 

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