February 03, 2008	Sunday	Muharram 24, 1429

MELBOURNE, Feb 2: Tim May, the chief executive of FICA, has slammed the way Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh’s issue was coped by the Australian and Indian cricket boards and called on the ICC, the game’s governing body, to investigate their conduct.

“Cricket has had three attempts to deal with alleged racial abuse of the same player and has failed on every occasion,” May said.

“In the latest instance a player held an honest and reasonable belief that he had been racially abused,” May said, referring to the Australian player Andrew Symonds’s complaint that he was racially abused by Harbhajan during the Sydney Test last month.

“It does not matter if he may have been mistaken, the fact is he held an honest and reasonable belief that he had been racially abused. For this, he has been portrayed as a villain.

“The priorities of each board have been misdirected at best — one hell-bent on protecting its image and the other hell-bent on protecting its revenues,” he stated, referring to Cricket Australia (CA) and BCCI.

“Allegations of intimidation, interference and some good old ‘backroom bullying’ have unfortunately been all too prevalent in this issue and other issues.

“Racism is a sensitive and very serious issue within our respective communities. The boards have failed in their responsibility to uphold their respect for this issue.

“They have failed the players, they have failed both the ICC’s Code of Conduct and the ICC’s Anti-Racism Code, and they have failed the communities where racism is a real, live issue,” May continued.

“After this latest episode and seeing how cricket handles this type of issue, why would any player possibly think about reporting any further instances of racism?” May asked.

“You will be hounded by the press, you will be directly or indirectly will be intimidated by cricket officials and you will be hung out there to dry and be painted as the bad guy. Players should be approaching such matters with confidence that the system will support and protect you, not decimate and discredit you.

“It’s duty of the ICC to protect the integrity of their Code. I’m confident the ICC will launch a thorough investigation into the alleged actions of both boards and key officials — there are serious allegations of intimidation and interference of those involved in this hearing — and such allegations must be dealt with swiftly and decisively,” May, the former Australian player, emphasised.—Agencies