Can The Ban And Market The Manners Message Instead

The Sunday Age

Sunday January 27, 2008

Amanda Dunn

WELL, that's Test cricket then, almost over for another Australian summer, with one series win, another in the balance, an equal world record and a healthy spot of controversy tucked safely under the baggy green. Time for the players to leave the creams to soak overnight and dust off the green and gold outfit, while fans brace for TV commentators to refer relentlessly to "rock and roll" cricket: yes, next up is a Twenty20 match against India at the MCG on Friday.

There's an old saying that manners maketh the man, and etiquette around the gentleman's game has been the focus of much attention this summer, with the players on both teams copping criticism for their perceived lack of sportsmanship.

But what about the crowd? Do the fans leave a bit to be desired in the manners department? With the shortened and extra-shortened forms of the game set to round out the cricket summer, the controversy around the Mexican wave will no doubt raise its head again - for the second consecutive summer, Cricket Australia has banned the wave at the MCG because of concerns about crowd safety.

Like most things, it all used to be so simple. Not so long ago, the Mexican wave would kick off when someone - usually lurking in the old Bay 13 and, let's face it, with a light ale or six under his belt - would count backwards from 10 until, when he reached the magical zero, his section of the crowd would join him in throwing their arms in the air to start the wave. Said wave would then make its way anti-clockwise around the ground - mesmerising many folk along the way - until it was invariably stopped in its tracks at the members stand, whereupon the rest of the crowd would boo in a village pantomime kind of way before the wave picked itself up again on the other side.

It was all good, clean, predictable fun, and no one got hurt. Then some idiots started throwing objects when their turn came to wave, including beer or other drinks, which of course landed on innocent bystanders and, not surprisingly, pissed them off or even hurt them.

That fans shouldn't throw things in the air when they wave is a no-brainer. But whether banning it is really the best way to stop yobbos from interfering with other people's cricketing fun is another matter entirely. Most people at the cricket are well-behaved, and the yob element is usually confined to a particular area (easily identified by the sudden proliferation of fluorescent vests in that part of the stadium - as they say on The Bill, they've got form).

There will always be a few who get carried away with the heat, the beer, trying to impress their mates, or a potent combination thereof, and have to be dealt with by those in the fluorescent vests.

But instead of the whole class getting detention because Tommy's tormenting the hamster again, it would be far more effective simply to encourage people to keep themselves nice - to make their own fun but not interfere with other people's. Cricket crowd favourites could help sell the message - for example, the recruitment of Merv Hughes to the cause for this season was a great idea; an ex-cricketer with crowd cred like Shane Warne would really get the message across.

Most fans don't want to sit in an area where things are being thrown and they're likely to end up with half a meat pie on the back of their head. Most also have no intention of throwing things themselves. The wave, when it is just people hurling their arms in the air and nothing else, is a harmless celebration of the excitement the game can provide or, at times, a welcome alleviation of the tedium of a slow patch of play. It usually only lasts for a few minutes before it loses momentum or the crowd is diverted by a bit of on-field action and they remember what they paid their money to see.

It's hard to escape the feeling of constantly being bossed around at the cricket these days. On the TV monitors are regular, and long, reminders about not running on to the ground and not being racially abusive. Again, it seems unnecessary to have these pre-emptive remonstrations about how to behave oneself, when in most cases supporters of both sides sit together peaceably and enjoy the game.

Banning the wave, as we have already seen this summer, will not stop it from happening. It is not good community relations to treat the paying public like miscreant youth, nor does the ban allow for the natural exuberance that following sport brings with it. It's time to have faith in people's better nature. It's time to can the ban.

© 2008 The Sunday Age

Back to News Index | Back to Home