The South Africa National Cricket Team has gotten into a big mess due to their head coach Shukri Conrad’s unkind words about the India National Cricket Team on Day 4 of the ongoing second and final Test match being played in Guwahati at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium.
After South Africa managed to pull off a historic 3-0 win over India in their own den, Shukri Conrad went ahead and used a word that has a painful past behind it, and that comment has overshadowed all the tireless efforts put by them throughout the series, where even experts have started to argue.
Shukri Conrad’s comment ‘grovel’ against India causes an uproar
At the end of Day 4, India was two down for just 21 runs while chasing a huge target of 549 runs against the Proteas side in Guwahati. They had batted for almost 80 overs in their second innings and had almost sealed the two-match Test series 2-0.
While talking about the South African cricket team’s strong position, Shukri Conrad used the controversial word “grovel.” The Proteas head coach had said they wanted India to “really grovel,” and not only that, Conrad also confessed that he was borrowing the phrase from the late England captain Tony Greig, who had used it in the infamous 1976 series against the West Indies.
That statement is one of the most shocking and controversial in cricket history. Sharing his views on the controversy, the legendary South African fast bowler Dale Steyn looked uncomfortable and clearly stated that he didn’t want to be associated with that word.
Dale Steyn has criticized Shukri Conrad for bringing up the contemptuous phrase from the 1976 saga of Tony Greig, which is still infamous to this day.
Dale Steyn, while on Star Sports’ Cricket Live just before Day 5 remarked: “I’m not on that boat, eh? I don’t like that. I almost don’t even want to make a comment about it. There are certain things you just don’t say. There’s stigma attached to it. It just wasn’t necessary. South Africa was in such a dominant position—saying nothing is enough. I’m just not on that boat.”
Steyn made it clear that some expressions possess an ironic and negative legacy, and in case the intention of the speaker is not sinister, they still should not be uttered. The analyst regarded that the same phrase being employed by Conrad now in reference to the Indian side which has its own casteism issue is nothing short of reopening the old wounds.
Moreover, he confirmed that the South African team was already in control of the Test match in Guwahati and hence did not require to use such words. Steyn went on to say, “Perhaps I sense his tone now—he is not as rude as the way of Tony Greig however it is not important. We just don’t choose those words. Toss it. You do not have to say it. That is sad. Apologies, but that is really disappointing, Shukri.”
What exactly does Tony Greig’s ‘Grovel’ saga
of 1976 entail? Conrad indeed made a
reference to the notorious and very controversial statement of Tony Greig from year 1976 who had used the same term against the West Indies players whose ancestry traced back to the enslaved Africans and hence all the racial suffering over the years.
As a result, the entire Caribbean community just became extremely furious. However, the insult was quite a motivating factor for the West Indies to literally wipe out England 3-0 in that very series which turned out to be a historic one.
Prior to that series, Greig had remarked, “If they’re down, they grovel, and I intend… to make them grovel.” Captain Clive Lloyd later remarked, “The word ‘grovel’ is one guaranteed to raise the blood pressure of any Black man… We resolved to show him that the days for grovelling were over.
