SA in Australia
'Racist' spectator prosecuted
2009-01-19 21:07
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Morne Morkel (Gallo Images)
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Christo Buchner
Sydney. – Cricket Australia (CA) are set to make an example of a spectator who directed a racist slur at Morné Morkel.
CA have already laid a formal complaint with the police in Tasmania after the spectator abused Morkel during Sunday’s second one-day international at the Bellerive Oval.
“We’ll ensure that there is proper action against him so that an example can be made to deter other people,” CA’s public affairs manager Peter Young said on Monday.
“It’s a pity that one incident can spoil everything for thousands of people.”
Young again apologised to the South African team and Cricket South Africa.
Morkel was the 12th-man when the spectator apparently shouted within earshot of a policeman and security officer that he was a kaffir.
Morkel did not immediately register the slur. When he walked off the field he told teammates somebody had said something "very ugly”.
It is apparently quite normal in Australia for South Africans, irrespective of their race, to be referred to as kaffirs.
Young said it was extremely disappointing that a wonderful day for Tasmanian cricket was ruined by “one idiot that can’t behave himself”.
He said it was a blot on the copybook of an otherwise good summer as far as behaviour is concerned.
South African management deplored the incident, but accepted the apology and views the incident as closed.
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