Racist AFL fans called out by Indian-Australian journalist amid backlash to Hindi language commentary

Daily Mail​

2 days ago

A popular Indian-Australian sports journalist has hit back after the AFL's first ever Hindi commentary was targeted by racist trolls on social media.
Fox Footy featured Hindi commentary for the first time for the Western Bulldogs v GWS Giants clash on Thursday night, with Mandarin commentary to come for the Brisbane Lions v Sydney Swans match.
It is part of the AFL's Cultural Heritage Series, which has replaced Multicultural Round, with additional AFLW matches to follow.
However the commentary has attracted negative feedback from racists on social media saying it was unnecessary and that Indian migrants should 'learn English'.
'How about don't move to a English speaking country?' a self-proclaimed citizen journalist named Rob Smith posted before the match had even aired.
'They don't understand English language in Australia? Then why are they here?' asked another AFL fan on social media platform X.
The Hindi commentary was available for Thursday's match between the Bulldogs and GWS
Another commented: 'This country is beyond woke'.
But leading Australian sports reporter Bharat Sundaresan has hit back at the detractors.
Sundaresan is an award‑winning Indian‑born cricket writer, commentator, and author based in Adelaide, Australia.
He is the Australian correspondent and senior writer for Cricbuzz, after more than a decade covering cricket for The Indian Express.
In addition to cricket, he also covers the AFL and AFLW, and is the author of The Dhoni Touch (2018) and Believe (2021).
He did the coin toss for the round six AFL match between Adelaide and Greater Western Sydney.
The match was part of the AFL's new Cultural Heritage Series, celebrating diversity through club‑nominated home games.
Sundaresan was then racially abused on social media, so he said he was not shocked the latest AFL Cultural Heritage Series initiative had attracted negative attention as well.
'That's something you get used to, sadly, when you are a migrant,' he told Daily Mail Australia.
'I remember when I was asked to toss the coin before the Crows and GWS game at the Adelaide Oval, they all came out of the woodwork.
'Someone who doesn't look like your traditional Australian tossing the coin ... it was almost treated like blasphemy.
'Someone who allegedly whose grandfather didn't fight in the wars getting to toss the coin at an AFL game.
'I am not surprised that anything of this sort gets extreme reactions. It's just something that hopefully goes away, but it is something I know I am getting immune to.'
The move to include commentary in Asian languages is part of the AFL's bid to capture and engage a new market living in Australia.
Sundaresan said it was important to not only grow the sport, but to help connect migrants to a game that is stitched into Aussie DNA.
'It's just part of their quest to figure out what the AFL can do to have an audience that reflects [the fact that] 40 per cent of Australians now are currently born out of Australia, me being one of them,' he said.
'Sadly it is just the way the world works when people with a lot of negative things to say seem to be the loudest.
'I am Australian, so I want to be considered Australian and I feel that AFL or Australian Rules Football is part the identity of what it is, what it means to be Australian.
'Do I really need Hindi commentary? I personally don't. But I am in the fortunate few that grew up with English as their first language where I grew up in India.
'Not everyone is fortunate enough when they move here.
'I think more than anything, it is a way the AFL [can say] 'we are ready to try anything to get you guys onboard'.