South Africa

...the ICC has concluded that the racist abuse from Australian fans towards South Africa's cricketers was "premeditated, coordinated and calculated to get under the players' skins". Here are the key finding of the report (Reuters) :

I find that racial abuse of South African players has taken place during their tour of Australia," ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed quoted the report as saying on Tuesday."Herschelle Gibbs, Shaun Pollock, Andre Nel and Boeta Dippenaar were all subjected to racial abuse in different places. "It would be wrong to attribute racial abuse to South African expatriates living in Australia. It was premeditated, coordinated and calculated to get after the players. It is a serious matter," he told a news conference.

 

"It is the first complaint made by a cricketing nation and it must be taken very seriously. The chief executives of the Australia and South Africa boards and I will come back with recommendations for a change, if any, to the ICC anti-racism policy during the April 30 meeting," Speed said after a meeting of the ICC board.

 

Now I don't want to crow too much, but to all those Aussies who sent me mail (after this post) about how I was "well off the mark" or "misjudging the Australian sports mentality", because "hell it is obvious that these fools were South African expats" - all I can say is read the ICC report for yourself!