The noise coming out of the Australian cricket camp over its star Andrew Symonds being taunted by “monkey chants” during last week’s one-day international in Vadodara seems a bit over the top—when you consider the startling contents of an Australian government-backed report that was released today.

Racial abuse is prevalent across the sporting world of Australia, including its cricket grounds, says the report titled ‘ What’s the Score? A survey of cultural diversity and racism in Australian sport’ that was released today by Australia’s Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC).

On Australian cricket, the report points to “racial sledging” of South African cricketers who “were referred to as kaffirs by a small section of spectators” at Perth in December 2005. It says that cricketers from Sri Lanka were “subjected to calls of ‘black c——’ at Adelaide, and adds that an ICC security official was punched by spectators in Melbourne.

“It is clear that incidents of racial abuse and vilification are prevalent across all major sporting codes, involving professional sportspeople, amateurs, coaches and spectators. The fear of racism in Australian sport is also a major barrier to participation for Indigenous people and those from various ethnic and cultural groups,” says Race Discrimination Commissioner Tom Calma about the report that has been put up on the commission’s website www.hreoc.gov.au.

Focusing on Cricket Australia, apart from 16 other national sporting organisations Down Under, the report says: “Don’t believe the spin doctors — racism still exists in sport.”

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