Mike Proctor - How good would he have been if he played more Tests?

[Abdullah719]

Mike Procter lifts lid on monkeygate saga

RISEN from the dead.

Almost a decade on from the monkeygate scandal, which almost saw India abandon their tour of Australia, fresh evidence has surfaced via a report in the Australian in which match referee Mike Proctor breaks his silence on the controversial event.

The South African handed down a three-Test ban to Harbhajan Singh, after it was alleged that numerous Australian sources that the Indian spin-bowler had racially slurred Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds.

Harbhajan was alleged to have called Symonds a monkey while the Indian was batting with Sachin Tendulkar — something he is said to have previously done too during a game in Mumbai.

Australian greats Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden later acted as witnesses as the three-match ban was challenged and were adamant they heard Harbhajan taunt Symonds.

But the sanction was overturned when Tendulkar, who previously claimed he had heard nothing, said Harbhajan had used an offensive Indian phrase that included the word “maa ki” which could be confused with monkey.

Proctor, who devoted a chapter of his new book Caught in the Middle, Monkeygate, Politics and Other Hairy Issues; the Autobiography of Mike Procter, wrote that it was “mind-boggling” the lengths Cricket Australia went to after the initial hearing to appease the Indian board when one of their players had been “wronged”.

“Cricket Australia had leant heavily on the players to take the racism allegation away, and instead make it a matter of abuse,” Proctor wrote.

It was also claimed Harbhajan could not testify because he didn’t speak English — a point Proctor took particular exception to.

He added: “To say that Harbhajan didn’t speak English already bordered on the farcical.”

https://www.perthnow.com.au/sport/c...tch-marsh-ng-a0422ec80816917af9aa1fe9245cb02e

 

[ManFan]

Whether or not Harbhajan Singh actually said monkey or something else, the whole scenario was a farce. The ACB bending their backs and letting down their players for television rights. Because of course, they can’t afford to upset the BCCI.

 

[Gilly]

Buy the book, buy the book, proctor cashing in on monkeygate.

 

[RickyG]

It was a mismanaged scenario. Everything was based on hearsay. Aussie players were just trying to settle old scores and Symonds and Clarke both said as much. BCCI was arrogant throughout the whole process and held ACB ransom instead of investigating the incident or providing proper counter arguments/evidence to support Harbajhan. Procter dealt with the whole situation poorly as well by trying to look like he was a strong disciplinarian.

Now my own personal opinion is that Harbajhan either said "maa ki" or if he said monkey he was referring to Symond's on-field behaviour not his race. For white people, the term monkey stinks of racism because that's how they've used it. For South Asians, monkey has nothing to do with race. My mom has said I behave like a monkey and we're both the same race.

 

[Savak]

The Australians were just butt hurt that they didn't get their way and that the BCCI which began to emerge as a major financial power had enough punching power to not only keep the ACB at bay but to knock them out as well.

It is quite clear that Harbhajan uttered "Maa ki" in Hindi which the Australians either unintentionally misunderstood as a racial taunt or deliberately knowing what Harbhajan actually said in Hindi, tried to flex their muscles and blew the whole thing out of proportion and tried to get Harbhajan banned severely.

Symonds ego was most butt hurt when he realized that Cricket Australia was not going to go on with the whole saga risking so much $$$$ for one irrelevant player i.e. Symond's ego in the long run.

 

[Savak]

Symonds was an ill behaved and arrogant individual. His entire life and how his career ended testifies to the whole thing. He was not a credible complainant especially given that he was the one instigating Harbhajan and taunting him with all sorts of abuses.

 

[Convict]

Shameful moment for CA and Sutherland should have been sacked over his pathetic handling of the case.

 

[big_gamer007]

Anyone from Delhi/North India would know how frequently we use the word “maa ki” and like a poster above said we do not even know monkey is a racist word.. For this particular incident I whole heartedly support BCCI, they bullied the bullies.

 

[princeuk]

I dont particully like Andrew Symonds but the way the australian cricket board pandered to BCCI rather than support their players is very spineless, the BCCI would never have doen that. And harbajan singh not able to speak english is laughable.

 

[Proactive_]

To be honest I wouldn't be surprised in the least if Harbhajan did indeed call him a monkey. It was barely a few months before the series when Symonds faced the same insult from a very significant section of the fans in the Indian stadiums in the ODI series, the worst of which was at the Wankhede when an entire stand was chanting monkey at him as soon as he came out to bat and Harbhajan, being the sort of character that he is could have very well tried to get under Symonds' skin by reminding him of the chants Symonds faced in India.

I also think Harbhajan genuinely was oblivious to the gravity of the abuse because Sydney 08. But the "not able to speak English" excuse though.. HAHAHAHAHA.

 

[HitWicket]

Anyone from Delhi/North India would know how frequently we use the word “maa ki” and like a poster above said we do not even know monkey is a racist word.. For this particular incident I whole heartedly support BCCI, they bullied the bullies.

So back in 2007 groups of the Indian crowd at multiple different games in different venues in India making monkey chants at the only player of an ethnically black background on the field was purely a coincidence?

 

[big_gamer007]

So back in 2007 groups of the Indian crowd at multiple different games in different venues in India making monkey chants at the only player of an ethnically black background on the field was purely a coincidence?

Did the Eto incident at Barcelona happened during that time? I think the racist chants started when such incidents in football started and Indian media reported and people in India became aware of this kind of racism... The monkey gate since it was cricket led to a wider number of fans becoming aware of this kind of racism..

Before these incidents in sports I don’t think many people knew about this..

 

[KyoOne]

The 2007-08 tour by India was marred by ugly incidents which had started months earlier on the subcontinent when crowds had mocked Andrew Symonds with monkey gestures and taunts during a one-day series.

Harbhajan had allegedly joined the crowd during a game in Mumbai and was confronted after the match by an angry Symonds.

In the Sydney Test a number of poor umpiring decisions and claims of catches by Australians, which the Indians believed were questionable, created an ugly atmosphere.

Harbhajan was alleged to have called Symonds a monkey again while the Indian was batting.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spo...a/news-story/5e40c0e9a3c5ed6d59d4db55308d100a

There was history to it. It was not a coincidence.

And "Indian God" Tendulkar changing statements like wind was shameful, especially coming from a player of his stature.

More shameful was ACB putting financial concerns ahead of the integrity of the game by bending towards BCCI.

 

[CricketCartoons]

I don't seen how a racist insult is better or worse than the other insults involving mothers and sisters. Some cultures take more offence on one over the other.

 

[Lefthanded]

Don't think anyone will ever know if it was 'maa ki' or 'monkey.' I don't put it past North Indian desis to be racist to darker skinned people. I'm punjabi and I've heard enough 'habshi bundur' [******* monkey], '**** koja' [ugly black as a default phrase for darker skinned people considered ugly], 'unehhra' [darkness] to know that.
[MENTION=136588]CricketCartoons[/MENTION]

Racial insults are embedded either in or in some combination of history of colonial dominance, slavery, legacies of those exist today in second class citizenship in home countries, mis-treatment/denigration and prejudice founded on race.

If Bhajji did call him a monkey, Symonds didn't deserve to be called that. Too many Punjabis, in my experience, are all too comfortable with this sort of thing for laughs and are a bit tone deaf. There's a reason Australians are no longer allowed to put up placards in the stands using racial insults.

So, quite a bit different from maa ki, pehnn di etc.

 

[MenInG]

Today 2008

A record-equalling 16th straight Test win for Australia was overshadowed by the row that erupted over the allegation that Harbhajan Singh had racially abused Andrew Symonds during the Sydney Test. Match referee Mike Procter suspended Harbhajan for three Tests but it was reduced to a 50% match-fee fine on appeal, after threats to boycott the tour emerged from the Indian camp. India were also unhappy with several umpiring decisions in the Test: first Symonds, who later admitted to edging a ball when on 30, was not given out by Steve Bucknor, and went on to make an unbeaten 162; Michael Clarke refused to walk when caught at second slip and later claimed a disputed catch off Sourav Ganguly, which umpire Mark Benson accepted as legitimate based on a pre-series agreement between the captains that the fielder's word would be taken. In the end, on the BCCI's insistence, the ICC removed Bucknor from the third Test in Perth.

from Cricinfo

 

[Varun]

Pretty sure Harbhajan did call Symonds a monkey - everything else the BCCI and Sachin said and did was a rescue act.

CA threw their players under the bus. Even today with the quasi big-3 deal you can see that money matters to them over their cricketers.

 

[Hitman]

Decade after 'Monkeygate', match referee Mike Procter still paying the price

Mike Procter claims the Cricket Club of India (CCI) has revoked his life membership following the Monkeygate controversy of 2008. Not just that alone, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), according to him, allegedly stripped him of the Match Referee assignment for the IPL 2 in South Africa after initially offering him the role. “I had to pay a heavy price for the Monkeygate,” says Procter, a South African cricket legend.

Procter was the ICC match referee for that 2008 Test in Sydney where he declared Harbhajan Singh guilty of racially abusing Andrew Symonds and suspended the Indian spinner for three Tests. The verdict led to a virtual derailment of the India-Australia with the BCCI threatening to walk out of the series unless the judgement was overturned. Following an appeal by the Sharad Pawar-headed BCCI and deposition by Sachin Tendulkar, the punishment against Harbhajan was subsequently downgraded and the India spinner was cleared to play matches.

But scars of that controversy never left Procter and he felt he has become an enemy of India. His fears came true when he found out the CCI cancelled his life membership. “It was an honour to be a member of the prestigious CCI. It is like the Lord’s and the MCC but the fallout of Monkeygate cost me the membership. I was told that a couple of members of the BCCI have influenced the decision of the CCI management,” he tells Mirror.

No reply from CCI

Procter sent a friend to inquire about status of the membership but the CCI management told him they had no records of his membership. Procter also mentions this in his recent book Caught In The Middle. “I found it quite bizarre,” he writes. There was no immediate response from the CCI management. Kapil Malhotra, who used to be on the club’s cricket committee, said he was not part of the management at that time and Commodore NK Jha, secretary of the club, did not reply to messages and calls from this paper.

Dwelling on the verdict, the former match referee said the Indian delegation did not offer proper defence to the charges of racial abuse. “Coming from South Africa, I cannot have taken racism charge lightly. The Indian side did not say anything. They just denied. Sachin Tendulkar told the hearing that he did not hear anything. In subsequent appeal (by the BCCI), he said it was an abuse in Hindi. I just did my job.”

No IPL either

The former South Africa all-rounder says ‘worse was to follow’. And that was in the form of last minute withdrawal of an assignment in the IPL. “When the IPL came to South Africa, I was offered to be a Match Referee. I was given the rules, the itinerary, match postings and even bookings of my hotel rooms. I got those things from a lady. But it was cancelled at the last minute. I was sent a form which I had to sign and it had to have a counter signature of Mr Lalit Modi (then IPL chairman).

“The plug was pulled and there was no explanation,” he reveals. He goes on to explain the point in his book. “It did not take long for me to figure that there must have been an eyebrow raised at MJ Procter being match referee after everything that had happened in January 2008,” he writes. “The entire episode left a very bad aftertaste, and I for one was not happy with the brush I was tarred with. I still insist that I was just doing my job at the end of the chaotic New Year Test at the SCG and I have been paying a silent price ever since.”

Link: http://ahmedabadmirror.indiatimes.c...ill-paying-the-price/articleshow/62560129.cms

 

[Savak]

Australians should be the last people to accuse anyone of racism to be honest. They are still smarting from the episode that they didn't get their way. This was the start of BCCI calling the strings in International Cricket.

 

[SM1989]

Andrew Symonds wrongfully abused Harbhajan which started the whole issue. I am glad the arrogant Aussies including Symonds were dealt with in this manner.

Symonds deserved the abuse he got from the Mumbai crowd. He turned out to be an indisciplined character who was subsequently axed from the Aussie side.

 

[Romali_rotti]

Harbhajan may or may not have said monkey, however I felt it was deserved, Symonds was instigating through out the whole test match, however when things back fired he started crying like a little girl. Unfortunately if you cant suffer the consequences for your actions, like the old saying goes: DONT DO IT....

 

[Robert]

I'll confess to not knowing much about this guy.

I remember him waving a flag when SA beat Englnd at Lord's in 1994. I remember reading about him - how he took test wickets at average 15 in his seven tests.

Then the other day I saw footage of the man bowling. The spring to the crease, the horrible chest-on action off the wrong foot - but he looked terrifying quick and got inswing. He looked quicker than Imran.

I wonder how good he could have been if he had played more tests.
[MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION], what was his batting like?

 

[Cric1234]

Another potential all time great cricketer who didn't play enough to be recognised amongst the greats.
He along with Pollock and Richards led South Africa to successive wins against Australia a great team might have formed but it wasn't to be.

 

[Ab Fan]

They would have been as good as Donald, Pollock, Kallis, Steyn and AB de Villiers.

Might have also possible that they would have also suffered from the choking tag.