The Barrier District Cricket League’s season has been tarnished by claims racist slurs were shouted by Warriors club members at last weekend’s South versus West match at Zinc Oval.
The BDCL is carrying out an investigation and there are calls for anyone found guilty of racist abuse to be banned for life from future matches in the competition.
South Cricket Club has made complaints against some members of another side, who were watching the final round fixture with great interest. We’re told West is also likely to put in an official complaint and complaints were also made to the match umpire on the day.
The team at the centre of the racism allegations is Warriors Cricket Club.
South Cricket Club president Ben Franklyn said the league process – an investigation is underway – needed to be respected but he added if anyone was found guilty, they should be banned for life.
“I cannot make any comments on what was allegedly said or by whom, as we need to respect the investigation process and those involved in it,” he told us.
“If the BDCL finds any player or official guilty of racial vilification then it’s my view they should be banned for life from the competition, as there is no place for any level of racism in our game or our community.
“We as a Club pride ourselves on being one the most culturally diverse sports cubs in City.
“During my time as President we have built the Club into a large family club with our children in attendance at these games, and to me, that’s where the positive cultural change and education about acceptance begins.
“We now await the commission’s findings. We will then meet as a Club and go from there.”
A senior insider at one of the clubs, who wished to remain anonymous, spoke at length with the Barrier Truth about how disgusted they were with the incident and how it had no place in not only the game, but society as a whole.
“I have been part of this community for quite some time now. We have players who have come here recently from overseas. This is not how the game should be played. Cricket is a gentleman’s game and it needs to be played in the right spirit.
“When you have a team that is not playing, but watching and they want one of the teams playing to lose, it does not make it okay to use racial slurs. It is reprehensible,” the source told the Barrier Truth.
The insider said they expected the League to take a tough stance on the issue, to set a precedent to stop anything like this happening again.
“We expect the league (BDCL) to take a call on this. We have faith in the league representatives to come up with something. Both clubs that were playing on the day have flagged the issue. It is up to the league to investigate and do the right thing.
“We just want to make sure that next time this behaviour is not repeated.
“Everyone that comes to play cricket on the weekend deserves to be treated with respect. No one likes to be abused.
“Having said all of this, I just want to say I appreciate both sides saying something on the day. I am happy with how the teams involved on the day have gone about this and reported this.
“I know for a fact there has been one official complaint filed, and hopefully the other team follows suit.”
We contacted the Barrier District Cricket League for comment, and Chairman Peter Johnston told us they were unable to say anything because of an ongoing hearing that is being kept ‘in house’.
“”The League has received a formal report from South and won’t be making any further comment,” said Mr Johnston, who writes for this newspaper.
Despite attempts to reach out to Warriors Cricket Club via email and phone, they have not replied or provided comment to the Barrier Truth.
