Border disappointed CA board didn’t back Andrew Symonds on ‘Monkey-gate’

Allan Border has revealed his lingering disappointment over the infamous ‘Monkey-gate” controversy on India’s 2007/08 tour of Australia, saying Andrew Symonds was let down by his own board.

Allan Border has revealed his lingering disappointment that Cricket Australia failed to adequately support Andrew Symonds during the infamous ‘Monkey-gate” furore on India’s 2007/08 tour of Australia.

Border, who was a member of the board at the time, says fears of a massive financial loss for Cricket Australia dictated their actions in backing down to India when it threatened to pull out of the tour after off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was handed a three-match ban by the ICC for racial abuse to Symonds.

The Indians threatened to boycott the tour, and appealed the decision. Harbhajan was ultimately found guilty of a lesser charge of using abusive language in the appeal heard by New Zealand High Court judge John Hansen.

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He was fined 50 per cent of his match fee.

But in the second part of a documentary on Australian and India’s sometimes strained relationship, 2 Nations 1 Obsession, to screen on Fox Cricket on Thursday night, Border and a host of Symonds’ teammates claimed the Australian all-rounder got little support from his own board.

Video still of the incident between Indian batsman Harbhajan Singh (L) and Andrew Symonds. Image: Channel 9

“I was on the cricket board as a director and I was very disappointed with the stance we took,” Border told filmmaker Peter Dickson. “We backtracked quite substantially.”

“But there was a strong reason for it — the threat of (India) going home became a serious financial hole.

“Was it one of those retreats where you lose the battle but win the war ultimately? I don’t know?”

Symonds maintains Harbhajan said to him ‘You’re nothing but a monkey’, but remains just as frustrated that “Cricket Australia was intimidated by the Indian Cricket Board.”

“It was a very political time … It was just a really ugly incident … if the truth honestly had prevailed and common sense, there would have been a punishment for a player, it would have been dealt with and it would have set a precedent for the future.

“I don’t think it has done that.”

Singh (l) shakes hands with Symonds after Australia won the SCG Test.

Teammates Adam Gilchrist and Stuart Clark expressed their frustration by the lack of support Symonds received at the time.

“Myself as vice-captain, and Ricky (Ponting) as captain, were trying to completely back our player, Andrew Symonds wasn’t going to back down,” Gilchrist said.

“Andrew Symonds would feel certain that his board didn’t back him.”

Clark said: “In that ‘07 series, in the one-day series, the reference to ‘Monkey’ had been used before. There was some footage of me walking down the wicket and my head spins around like a top.”

“My recollection was I heard something like it, that’s what I thought I heard. We all know what happened.

“It was a big moment in Australian and Indian cricket.”

Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Symonds and Matthew Hayden before the start of an appeal hearing against Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh’s three-match ban. Pic: AP

But former Indian cricket great Ravi Shastri told 2 Nations 1 Obsession that the Australians historically gave back as good as they got.

“Something might have happened, there’s a reaction, but never forget you also did it,” Shastri said. “I am not a saint … I give it to you, so when you give something back, I shouldn’t be quibbling. You have got to take it like a man, look me in the eye and say ‘You got me’”.

Indian cricket commentator and journalist Harsha Bhogle said he had never seen worse relations between two teams that what occurred during the ‘Monkey-gate’ controversy.

“The fact that India stood up and seemed to win the war of negotiation was, I think, a turning point in the balance of power between India and Australia.”

# 2 Nations 1 Obsession, tonight (Thursday), 8.30pm on FOX CRICKET (channel 501 on Foxtel)

Originally published as Border disappointed CA board didn’t back Andrew Symonds on ‘Monkey-gate’