Comment - Yet again a racism controversy has rattled international cricket:

And, yet again, an Australian is at its epicentre

When Dean Jones labelled Hashim Amla, a coloured South African batsman and devout Muslim, a "terrorist" on air this week, he not only lost his tax-free $US2000 ($2615) -a-day contract with his Dubai-based employer, but hinted at a national problem - one that will further deteriorate unless it is acknowledged and acted upon.

Racial insensitivity is real and a serious issue in Australian sport.

Unsavoury? Perhaps. But it's better to be stung by the truth than appeased by a distortion of it. Such outbursts by Australians - sportspeople, spectators, administrators or commentators - can no longer be cast aside as one-offs, giggled at behind closed doors then swept under the carpet. And no sport is more aware of this than cricket, for which race-related controversies have been damaging in recent years.

Following a summer of controversy, in which Australian crowds racially taunted South Africa's cricketers with calls of "kaffir", and just three years removed from Darren Lehmann's infamous slur of Sri Lanka's players, Australian cricket did not need an outburst such as that uttered by Jones on air.

Jones's comments were picked up during a break in play, soon after Amla had taken a catch to remove Sri Lankan batsman Kumar Sangakkara. The former Australian batsman was of the belief that the microphone was switched off when he uttered "another wicket for the terrorist". That, though, is hardly the point.

The great mystery is why Jones would hold, let alone air, such notions.

Regarded as a likeable, if not loud-mouthed, figure, Jones has become a major media star in the subcontinent on the back of his commentary work.

Already this year, he has spent time in Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka commentating on Test and one-day matches. And the company from which he has now been sacked, Ten Sports, is based in the United Arab Emirates and owned by Abdul Rahman Bukhatir, who will no doubt not take kindly to Jones's racial profiling of Amla.

For Jones, the financial loss will hurt, but not as much as the damage to his reputation on the subcontinent, where he has numerous other business interests.

He may well pick up more commentary work over time, as some Australian industry experts predict - and Melbourne station 3AW surprised many last night when it insisted it would retain Jones for commentating work this summer - but the stigma of a boorish, racist Australian will likely remain.

This, of course, is not merely the problem of Cricket Australia. This is a national issue.

It was the insensitive, unsympathetic reaction to the South African cricket team last summer that did Australia's reputation few favours globally, particularly as it came just after the Cronulla riots.

By global perception

Adding to that global perception was that, in many sections of the Australian media, the crowd controversy was said to have been instigated by expatriate South Africans, even though the Proteas players repeatedly stated otherwise. Some commentators even wondered what all the fuss was about, criticising the South Africans for making the matter public at a time the Herald as being inundated with letters and emails about similar crowd behaviour in recent seasons.

Has our geographic isolation really come to this? In the case of the South Africans, who have endured decades of heartache and, in many cases, bloodshed to rid themselves of the evil ideology that gave birth to terms such as "kaffir", do we really expect them to simply cast this off, buck up and get back to business?

When such behaviour surfaces internally, it is generally easier to dismiss it. Accountability, after all, is often the victim of self-policing.

Unfortunately, it is often only when racist attitudes appear on an international stage, such as sport, that we are truly held to account. From Lehmann to Justin Harrison to Lleyton Hewitt - and the numerous controversies surrounding many Aboriginal athletes - our reputation as a fair and tolerant sporting nation has taken a battering in recent years.

Yet, the biggest problem is not how we are perceived outside our borders, but rather how we perceive ourselves. If, after the Jones controversy, we tolerate the outburst and roll our collective eyes at the whistleblower, we have a problem far more serious than mere overseas perception. This, of course, is not merely the problem of Cricket Australia. This is a national issue.

(Sydney Morning Herald)