We are strongly critical of the appalling behaviour of some purported fans of the Bangladesh cricket team at a Melbourne mosque on Friday.
It is outrageous that as a number of the team’s players assembled for Jumma prayers, the whole mosque was disrupted by a group of Bangladeshi expatriates harassing and mocking our national team’s cricketers.
There is no excuse for such disgraceful behaviour. It was insulting not just to the players being abused but to everyone attending the Friday prayers.
Genuine supporters do not misbehave or indulge in such hooliganism, even when they are disappointed in their team’s performance. It is one thing for fans of sport to engage in friendly banter or to express criticism of their team’s performance, quite another to contravene basic rules of courtesy and common sense.
Heightened emotions are no justification for attacks on players or actions which taint the image of our national team.
The Tigers do not deserve this type of abuse.
We commend the players present for acting with dignity and staying silent as cricket board officials spoke up to try and calm the situation. We are confident that most genuine supporters of the Bangladesh cricket team agree and will disassociate themselves from the behaviour of rogue fans.
In the midst of such a major tournament as the World Cup, we hope this incident will remain an isolated one. Our cricketers deserve to be getting every encouragement and support from all Bangladeshi fans to progress further in the tournament.
