ICC warns BCCI to abide by anti-racism code

17th Oct 2007 17:00 IST
Agencies

The International Cricket Council has warned the Indian Board that it must abide by its anti-racism code and act seriously on the incident of racist crowd behaviour against Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds in Vadodara.

The BCCI has played down the incident only to irk the Australian team and the ICC, which has sought an explanation from the Indian Board on the issue.

ICC warns BCCI to abide by anti-racism code

BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah has also conceded that the Board has not appointed an anti-racism officer, despite it being a requirement of the ICC for all Test-playing nations, a 'Sydney Morning Herald' report said today.

But both Ray Mali, ICC's acting chairman, and David Morgan, the chairman-elect, have stated in no uncertain terms that India must fall into line with other cricketing nations and abide by the anti-racism code.

"Every member of the ICC is a signatory to that code, and we expect everyone to follow it," Mali told a local daily in Melbourne.

"If there is someone not abiding by that, then certainly we will do something about it. As the ICC president, I strongly condemn incidents of racism wherever they occur throughout the world. This is a serious issue, and we need to act on it to the best of our abilities," Mali said.

Morgan, who will assume the ICC chairmanship next year, echoed Mali's sentiments and denied the council afforded preferential treatment to the BCCI on account of the millions of dollars it brings to the game in the form of television rights and sponsorship deals.

"There should certainly be a consistent approach in the way the anti-racism code is enforced and I have no reason to believe it will not be in this instance," Morgan told the 'Herald Sun'