Aboriginals in Cricket

[Beny]

Ok guys here is what you should know.

Aboriginals number about 300,000 in a population of 20,000,000.

CA has set up special clinics to improve the state of the game in areas such as the NT with blokes like Jason Gillespie chipping in.

There is a special team of Aboriginals.

Aboriginals have played AFL football with no problems.

Cricket is not popular amoung aboriginals.

There are currently no aboriginals who could play for Australia.

[Maranello]

Originally Posted by Beny

Ok guys here is what you should know.

No should about it mate.. its interesting n all that...but not my main priority as far as knowledge goes ;-)

Seriously though... I think positive discrimination (or affirmative action as the yanks call it) is, in most of walks of life, counter-productive and unfair, and this definitely applies to selecting national sports team. If no aboriginals are good enough, then that's that really.

One thing that has always struck me is how the Aussie cricket seems to be a throw-back to the 1950s Australia in its racial make-up. I mean, a country as diverse as Australia, which has so many positive contributors from other backgrounds in all walks of life, has no Asian, Pacific, or other background cricket team members - this seems incongrous. I can only think of Kaspa with his Greek antecedents as being even slightly non-standard in his background.

This is quite different from England in all sports (footie, atheltics, cricket, rugby), and I would say that Australia is as racially diverse as England, if not more.

By no means am I shouting racism or discrimination here... since I don't believe that's the case at all... am just curious about something that appears a trifle unusual in the modern world.

[Beny]

A few people on this board dissagre...


I agree about the 'affermitive action' thing though.

Dizzy is part italian.

[Ernest]

I dont think any sane person would think Australia a racist country, so few Aboriginal people though, although one Yvonne Goolagong, made it to the top in Tennis, (Bet I got her name wrong)


Ern

[Maranello]

There was also Cathy Freeman..who lit up the torch at Sydney2000 and won so many hearts with her on-field success..

[Maranello]

Originally Posted by Ernest

I dont think any sane person would think Australia a racist country,

Agree 100%.

We should remember though that some of the official Aussie policies uptil the 50s and 60s are hotly disputed by some aborigines and human rights activists...and some civil liberties campaigners would go as far as to say they had a racist impact (which is distinct from a racist intent).

However, to say Australia is a racist country now is simply not true.

[Beny]

It's sort of like America where the south is a bit more racsist than the rest of the country. In Australia the north- Queensland, NT, WA are a bit more rascist than the south.


There have been some great aboriginal AFL footballers too.

[Mike Small]

Originally Posted by Maranello

I mean, a country as diverse as Australia, which has so many positive contributors from other backgrounds in all walks of life, has no Asian, Pacific, or other background cricket team members.

Wasn't Andrew Symonds part English part Aussie - I think he actually gave up an opportunity to play for England in fovor of playing for Australia. Verifications any one?

[Beny]

Very true... Mind he dosent sound English although he was born in Warrickshire.

[Mike Small]

He may have been born in Warwickshire but he looks more being of African American decent.