DAN’S PLAN TO STOP RACISM
INDIGENOUS cricket star Dan Christian has slammed the casual racism that exists in Australian society and called for the nation’s leading sportspeople to ensure it is stamped out.
Christian, starring for the Sydney Sixers in the BBL, said if the Indian team’s claim racist comments had been made from the SCG crowd in the third Test were proven correct, it would be “absolutely disgusting”.
“We’ve got a problem with casual racism everywhere in society, so I think as sportspeople it is a role of ours to be quite vocal about it and to be role models in that space and try to stamp it out,” said Christian, a Wiradjuri man who in 2009 captained an Indigenous Australian team that toured England. “It’s not just an Australian cricket problem, it’s an Australian society problem.
“Everyone’s got to take responsibilities for it but us people in the public eye have a responsibility to lead from the front.”
Christian said he had never been the target of racist abuse from a cricket crowd but heckling from some BBL crowds, particularly in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia, was “pretty ordinary”.
Fox Sports commentator and Test great Mike Hussey said Mohammed Siraj deserved enormous praise for stopping the Test match and reporting his claims.
“I do see it as really courageous and you have to remember, this guy is playing just his second Test match as well,” said Hussey.
“It would have been very easy for him to just stay quiet and just cop it and allow those people to get away with alleged, inappropriate comments. So, yeah, it does take courage and good on him for standing up and making a stand like he has.”