At the time I dismissed it as an ignorant aberration for surely no sane person would publicly denigrate people of Aboriginal ancestry as being sub-human. I was wrong. I'd forgotten that illusions of racial superiority aren't genetic but a behaviour that is learned.
Perhaps coincidentally, the very next day I read of a dozen learned British institutions that are refusing to hand over the stolen bones of some 2000 Australian natives. Their families have fought at great expense financially and emotionally in British courts since the 1980s for their return. All they ask is that their ancestor's remains be finally laid to rest in the appropriate cultural setting.
The reasons for the research are apparently secret but it is known that the remains are still required after a century of abuse and disrespect. You can make up your own mind as to why the bones of people of Aboriginal descent are needed for testing by anthropologists. The original stated reason for the grave-robbing was to prove conclusively that Australian Aboriginals weren't quite human but a sub-species of Homo Sapien.
These experiments have continued unabated for over a century at semblant seats of learning such as Oxford and Cambridge with hardly a peep from the general British population or the academics involved.
How does this deplorable example of an empire's indifference relate to cricket?
The BCCI took a similar gutless approach this last fortnight when it refused to acknowledge the racist chants emanating loudly from the grandstands of Chandigarh, Vadodora, Nagpur and Mumbai. They were all aimed at the same player, the only member of the Australian team with African ancestry.
The Indian Board and match referee Chris Broad sat on their grubby collective hands and as each match passed the tolerated abuse became more vicious and organised.
I presume that the ICC will also sweep this under the plush Dubai carpet and hope that now that the series has ended so has this most distasteful occurence. Unfortunately that won't be the case, the snake has escaped.
I have little doubt that the mute response of the relevant authorities to this cretinous public display of hatred will have consequences for Australian cricket this summer. Australia, like everywhere else, is not immune to the ridiculousness and foolishness of racist idiots. Add booze, a hot sun, an Indian touring squad and the indifferent treatment of a popular cricketer and you have a recipe that will make the Police Sargeant in charge of the cells a very busy man indeed.
When it does occur Downunder, public racism is stamped on quickly and the offenders publicly humiliated and punished. During South Africa's last tour complaints were made of racist remarks from the outer in Perth and after a police investigation the perpetrators, all refugees from post-Apartheid South Africa, were prosecuted. James Sutherland, Cricket Australia's chief administrator, has lobbied all authorities involved and there is a legislated zero tolerance policy in place and any person yelling a racially-motivated obscenity - non-racial is apparently OK - will be dealt with harshly.
The timing of these events has been curious to say the least. I wrote last week of the unsporting and disrespectful behaviour of sometimes Indian opening bowler Sreesanth and his verbal targeting of Symonds. It is surely not a coincidence that the racial taunts appeared soon after. Andrew has toured India before without incident, in fact on the last tour he was treated as a hero after his efforts installing a roof and water tank for an orphanage that Matt Hayden and a few flush Christian mates privately finance.
Organised racist chants are not new in India, the most notorious being the disgusting denigration of Desmond Haynes in Bangalore in 1982. However, up until this series these affronts were isolated. This tour has shown that racial taunting from Indian spectators is a national phenomenon with momentum and I am reasonably certain that if the authorities had treated the first incident at Chandigarh seriously then all would be forgotten by now. The cricket administration's lukewarm acceptance of racist taunting encouraged its proliferation and growth. In doing so the very people that are employed to nurture the grand game have assisted in dragging it into the sewer.
Mention must be made of the stoicism and conviction of the victim, Andrew Symonds. He has chosen to not respond to the baiting and let his bat do the talking. He topped the aggregate and averages for the series all at a strike rate well in excess of a hundred. In adversity a man can learn much about himself and Roy has gained plenty from this series. He has emerged a better and wiser cricketer and that I propose is the best reply to the ignorant miscreants.
I have experienced nothing that can compare to the loathsome display from last night's Mumbai crowd. Watching Andrew Symond's sad expression and slumped shoulders as he fielded on the green expanse of the Wankhede Stadium, against a backdrop of literally thousands of people in unison squealing and acting like monkeys was, in my mind, the saddest thing I have ever witnessed in my 25 years as a member of the wider cricketing family.
