Re-emergence of the ugly Aussie

[third eye]

Re-emergence of the ugly Aussie | The Australian

* Wayne Smith, Delhi * From: The Australian * October 07, 2010

AUSTRALIA again showed the world the ugly side of its sporting face as a second competitor diced with expulsion from the Delhi Commonwealth Games yesterday.

Within hours of Australian team chef de mission Steve Moneghetti announcing he had come perilously close to sending wrestler Hassene Fkiri home in disgrace after his disqualification for rudely gesturing to the judges after he lost his gold-medal match on Tuesday night, cyclist Shane Perkins repeated the obscenity.

The cycling team was on a roll at the Indira Gandhi velodrome when Perkins qualified fastest for the keirin final.

But his joy turned first to dismay and then anger when he was disqualified and relegated to the 7-12 ride-off for dangerous riding after South African Bernard Esterhuizen and Scot Ross Edgar were entangled in a horror crash.

The 23-year-old Victorian duly won the meaningless ride-off, only to celebrate by giving officials the two-fingered salute as he crossed the finish line. And just in case they missed it the first time, he repeated the gesture after making a lap of the velodrome. Effectively he also was giving the bird to Moneghetti, who yesterday morning had set forth in the clearest terms what he expected of Australia's Games competitors. A team spokesman said Perkins would face Moneghetti and a disciplinary hearing last night.

Surely the best he can hope for is to receive the same leniency as Fkiri, the former Tunisian wrestler who overstayed his visa following the 2000 Sydney Olympics and nearly overstayed his welcome at the Commonwealth Games after disgracing his adopted country.

Moneghetti conferred long into the night on Tuesday with Australian Commonwealth Games chief Perry Crosswhite to determine an appropriate punishment for Fkiri's poor sportsmanship during and after his gold-medal match against local hero Anil Kumar.

He allegedly headbutted Kumar during their fractious bout and then refused to shake hands with him afterwards.

Moneghetti admitted the starting point for his discussions with Crosswhite had been whether to expel Fkiri from the team.

"It would have been easy to send him home," said Moneghetti. "It was well within our rights to instantly dismiss him from the team and send him home. It would be fair to say that we considered the ramifications of such actions and the impact that that may have on the rest of his life.

"Let's be totally clear here. He's a very experienced sportsman. He's been to the Olympic Games and he's 36 years of age and this was completely out of character. He has shown absolutely no indication of this type of behaviour before."

But while Fkiri might have eluded the ultimate sanction, he still has been heavily punished by Moneghetti who ordered him to apologise in person to both the match referee and the competition manager, after which he will be confined to the village for the remainder of the Games. On his return to Australia he will be required to complete 12 months of community service at a wrestling club in the Sydney suburb of Darlinghurst, under the direction of his mentor and senior wrestling official Larry Papadopoulos.

"His actions were unacceptable for an Australian sportsperson representing their country in international competition," Moneghetti said.

"Publicly, it did not look good. He was having the best competition of his life. He had come through three outstanding rounds and was so motivated by the way he was performing that he had a very, very strong desire to win the gold medal and as the match was unravelling, that personal pressure caused him to make some bad decisions in the final part of that match.

"I my own mind, the most disappointing facet of this whole event was the fact that he would not shake hands with the opposition. You play hard. Australians, we play hard but once the match is decided, we accept the result and we play fair. It was unacceptable the way he treated fellow competitors in that situation."

Fkiri became an Australian citizen after dramatically refusing to return to Tunisia after competing in the Sydney Olympics. After clearing Customs at Sydney airport following the Games, which technically means he had cleared the Australian border, Fkiri somehow made his way back out of the departures area through the crush of people and slipped out of the terminal.

He ultimately applied for Australian citizenship, which was granted after four years, and last year he became eligible to compete for his adopted country.

Wrestling Australia president John Saul told The Australian yesterday that the sport would ensure Fkiri underwent counselling on his return home.

"If there is any further misbehaviour, that would be the end for him as far as we are concerned," Saul said. "I certainly hope this was a one-off incident."

 

[mrwarrior006]

these athlete should be treated worse than cattles

 

[Vector and Scalar]

Aussies are low minded!!
Keeping that in mind,all their allegations and complaints against the CWG should be taken lightly,as they have no mind whatsoever!

 

[Kinetic]

Australians have proved them again, during cricket and now in CWG. They made most of the fuss and created other issues before and during the game.

Aussie cricket team is in India now, doesn't those athletes watch any cricket match?? Atleast IPL???? And the players line for playing in India for IPL?? Ohhhh IPL brings money to the cricketers. ;-)

 

[KS]

Re-emergence of the ugly Aussie | The Australian

these athlete should be treated worse than cattles

Aussies are low minded!!
Keeping that in mind,all their allegations and complaints against the CWG should be taken lightly,as they have no mind whatsoever!

Australians have proved them again, during cricket and now in CWG. They made most of the fuss and created other issue before and during the game.

Aussies have raised an unnecessary furore,we have disproved that and replied back to them.

But insulting them like low-minded,worse than cattle etc is not good ..otherwise what is the diference between them and us.?

My thoughts.

 

[third eye]

Ugly, ugly, ugly say India's media

Ugly, ugly, ugly say India's media | The Australian


INCREDIBLE India. Ugly Australia. Two subjects have jostled for attention in the local media here for the past couple of days.

The celebration of VVS Laxman's marvellous match-saving innings on Tuesday is something to behold. It's Diwali come early (Christmas is the closest translation).

His name was reportedly the biggest trend in tweeting on the planet in the finals stages of the first Test against Australia.

Somebody commented wryly that half of America was googling "Laxman" to find out what on earth one was. Another twittered that when he retired there would be a national holiday in Australia. Smartarse!

To put the Twitter explosion into context, our Queen's thing in Delhi rated 10th at the time.

As to the other business.

If Indians complain about stereotyping, maybe those from the great beige land might have recourse to do the same.

Australians have a terrible reputation on the subcontinent and there's no shaking it.

This is poo that really sticks to the thongs.

When first a wrestler and then a cyclist does their rag over our monarch's little athletic carnival, it gets front page attention. And rightly so, but the stereotyping is relentless.

Alongside the Laxmania (the punning was relentless) Indians found room to put their chappals into Australians.

One paper began its bold and prominent story: "Ugly Australians aren't just confined to the cricket field. There are Ricky Pontings in every sport."

In truth, Indians have every right to be hostile and suspicious toward us, when they regularly read of their countrymen being bashed in the xenophobic lowlands of Melbourne.

An urbane, attractive and well-educated Indian girl in the team hotel at Chandigarh said on the night the Test match finished that she liked the Australians she met, and wanted to visit, but thought it was too dangerous.

It was pointed out to her that she sounded a bit like those nancies scared to come to Delhi. She was more likely to get whistled at than beaten one wit said (ugly, yes, but in a more appreciative manner).

Still, the papers' front-page stereotype must be deflating for the cricketers and Ponting. It was a harsh assessment of an Australian captain who had just played a wonderful Test match and fulfilled his commitment to help re-establish the game's credentials after they had been sullied by recent events.

The cricketers know the public here rates them very highly. Don Bradman is the game's equivalent of Gandhi. Brett Lee, Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden are legends.

Shane Watson is the star of a new hair gel campaign (Google it, it is hilarious) and the IPL sides fall over themselves to sign up Aussies who they know are big drawcards.

Many Indians in the media, however, love to hate Australians and love to malign Ponting.

He'll live with that and keep working hard to get a young team over the line, and he'll do it knowing that every time one of his players puts a foot wrong, they will be buried in a monsoon of bile and criticism.

To some extent it is a rod the Australians created for themselves with some unfortunate incidents over the years (rightly or wrongly he 2008 SCG Test grates with Indians more than many of the atrocities committed under Raj), but it frustrates with the Australians that other sides that err more often escape without being given a similar stereotype.

The match referee had cause to drag two players in for a dressing down during the Mohali match and neither wore the baggy green.

Neither incident was serious, and both were handled sensibly by Chris Broad.

Ponting was gracious, generous and perfectly mannered in defeat.

He said such a wonderful Test match should go some way towards restoring the public's faith in the game.

The attention it got was, indeed, incredible.

Cricket was the most-read story on The Australian website for 36 hours after the match. During the last session international attention was so great the enormous Bangalore-based, ESPN-backed Cricinfo web servers collapsed from exhaustion.

Anyway, there is a wise story about a war hero, philanthropist, inventor, champion athlete and all-round high achiever who has sexual congress with a goat. The man complains that no matter what he achieves he will always be known as a goat f . . .er.

Perhaps we had better get used to the ugly Aussie tag. It could be worse.

 

[Bangalorean]

karthic Sri is right. Remember that we don't really have any enemity with the Aussies - all this angst over media beatup is really silly. Let us not go overboard with our condemnation of the Aussies.

 

[mrwarrior006]

@karthick
jaise ko thaisa

 

[third eye]

Steve Moneghetti issues behaviour warning at Commonwealth Games


Steve Moneghetti issues behaviour warning at Commonwealth Games | The Australian

A DIRECTIVE has been issued to Australian athletes competing in Delhi reminding them of the country's expectations of sportsmanship.

Chef de Mission Steve Moneghetti has conveyed this to the team managers of the 19 sports Australians are competing in.

It comes on top of wrestler Hassene Fkiri being stripped of his silver medal yesterday for allegedly head-butting his Indian opponent and cyclist Shane Perkins giving a rude two-fingered gesture to officials at the velodrome after being charged with dangerous riding and demoted from the keirin final.

"I clearly experessed to section managers this morning that this is unacceptable," Moneghetti said.

"And every athlete will be reminded this is a very significant issue and they should focus on their performance and be graceful in defeat."

Fkiri has been spoken to by Australian team officials and read a prepared statement of apology today. He is not being sent home but still has to await any further sanctions by Wrestling Australian and the international federation, FILA, on top of losing his medal.

"Yesterday I met with my opponent Anil Kumar and with officials, I make full apology to them and I was deeply sorry for my action, they have accepted my apology," he read.

"What I did was unsporting and unlike me. I am truly sorry for the embarrassment that I have caused the Australian team and my family.

"I lost control of my emotion because I was too focused on winning a gold medal for my adopted country."

The Tunisian-born wrestler was cautioned twice during the bout, for head butting and for slapping Kumar.

Moneghetti said Fkiri had learned a hard lesson and his actions were out of character.

Moneghetti said he would deal with Perkins after he races the sprint tonight.

Moneghetti was asked if Perkins gesture was un-Australian as it was delivered to officials rather than against an opponent.

"In my mind I wouldn’t say un-Australian. I’d say it’s not the Australian way," he said.

"We Australians are fantastically competitive sports people on the playing arena but we are very fair country off it. Anything not displaying good sportsmanship, well that’s not the way we do things."

 

[Vector and Scalar]

Ugly, ugly, ugly say India's media



INCREDIBLE India. Ugly Australia. Two subjects have jostled for attention in the local media here for the past couple of days.

The celebration of VVS Laxman's marvellous match-saving innings on Tuesday is something to behold. It's Diwali come early (Christmas is the closest translation).

His name was reportedly the biggest trend in tweeting on the planet in the finals stages of the first Test against Australia.

Somebody commented wryly that half of America was googling "Laxman" to find out what on earth one was. Another twittered that when he retired there would be a national holiday in Australia. Smartarse!

To put the Twitter explosion into context, our Queen's thing in Delhi rated 10th at the time.

As to the other business.

If Indians complain about stereotyping, maybe those from the great beige land might have recourse to do the same.

Australians have a terrible reputation on the subcontinent and there's no shaking it.

This is poo that really sticks to the thongs.

When first a wrestler and then a cyclist does their rag over our monarch's little athletic carnival, it gets front page attention. And rightly so, but the stereotyping is relentless.

Alongside the Laxmania (the punning was relentless) Indians found room to put their chappals into Australians.

One paper began its bold and prominent story: "Ugly Australians aren't just confined to the cricket field. There are Ricky Pontings in every sport."

In truth, Indians have every right to be hostile and suspicious toward us, when they regularly read of their countrymen being bashed in the xenophobic lowlands of Melbourne.

An urbane, attractive and well-educated Indian girl in the team hotel at Chandigarh said on the night the Test match finished that she liked the Australians she met, and wanted to visit, but thought it was too dangerous.

It was pointed out to her that she sounded a bit like those nancies scared to come to Delhi. She was more likely to get whistled at than beaten one wit said (ugly, yes, but in a more appreciative manner).

Still, the papers' front-page stereotype must be deflating for the cricketers and Ponting. It was a harsh assessment of an Australian captain who had just played a wonderful Test match and fulfilled his commitment to help re-establish the game's credentials after they had been sullied by recent events.

The cricketers know the public here rates them very highly. Don Bradman is the game's equivalent of Gandhi. Brett Lee, Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden are legends.

Shane Watson is the star of a new hair gel campaign (Google it, it is hilarious) and the IPL sides fall over themselves to sign up Aussies who they know are big drawcards.

Many Indians in the media, however, love to hate Australians and love to malign Ponting.

He'll live with that and keep working hard to get a young team over the line, and he'll do it knowing that every time one of his players puts a foot wrong, they will be buried in a monsoon of bile and criticism.

To some extent it is a rod the Australians created for themselves with some unfortunate incidents over the years (rightly or wrongly he 2008 SCG Test grates with Indians more than many of the atrocities committed under Raj), but it frustrates with the Australians that other sides that err more often escape without being given a similar stereotype.

The match referee had cause to drag two players in for a dressing down during the Mohali match and neither wore the baggy green.

Neither incident was serious, and both were handled sensibly by Chris Broad.

Ponting was gracious, generous and perfectly mannered in defeat.

He said such a wonderful Test match should go some way towards restoring the public's faith in the game.

The attention it got was, indeed, incredible.

Cricket was the most-read story on The Australian website for 36 hours after the match. During the last session international attention was so great the enormous Bangalore-based, ESPN-backed Cricinfo web servers collapsed from exhaustion.

Anyway, there is a wise story about a war hero, philanthropist, inventor, champion athlete and all-round high achiever who has sexual congress with a goat. The man complains that no matter what he achieves he will always be known as a goat f . . .er.

Perhaps we had better get used to the ugly Aussie tag. It could be worse.

Great read!

I liked it

 

[Ingis]

Australian mantra --

If you lose, show the finger to the judges.

If you anticipate to lose, then blame the food and claim an upset stomach.

What whiners and sore losers!

 

[Kinetic]

Aussies have raised an unnecessary furore,we have disproved that and replied back to them.

But insulting them like low-minded,worse than cattle etc is not good ..otherwise what is the diference between them and us.?

My thoughts.

What did I said?? Why did you quote my post?

 

[KS]

What did I said?? Why did you quote my post?

Wanted to test the Multi-quote feature....

 

[Kinetic]

Wanted to test the Multi-quote feature....

Thats not the answer. You wanted to advice me something, I understood that but why me, I didn't got it!!!!!

 

[RobbieS]

Lets not go overboard friends. Lets not generalize. One of the guys was actually a Tunisian naturalized as an Aussie. Though these incidents are very immature, for me the Aussies still remain one of the friendliest people on the planet.