Paul Lewis: Aussies fall short on race

Timana Tahu and Andrew Johns. Photo / Getty Images

Australians and race relations; there's a tricky subject. It's been brought into focus by the Andrew Johns and Mal Brown race controversies in NRL and ARL respectively.

You wonder, in this day and age, how Johns and Brown could have been so bone-headed. For many years now, it has been the social norm not to call people names according to ethnic origin.

Johns' attempt to stir his NSW State Of Origin players by calling Greg Inglis and other players "black" and then assorted evil nouns was puzzling. So was Brown's ludicrous "cannibals" remark which he attempted to explain away as a term of endearment and then humour.

I won't waste too much time on re-exploring exactly what these two said. They both appear to have the approximate IQ of an ironing board.

However, we can maybe advance an explanation. Not an excuse, mind, but an attempt to shed some light on such vile verbiage.

Australians can be heavy-handed; particularly the male of the species. I have lived outside of New Zealand for getting on 20 years of my life - in the UK, Singapore and Thailand.

In all instances, I played sport, more often than not involving Aussies. I toured there with sports teams and have had many years' exposure to the male sporting Aussie.

He can be the salt of the earth; loyal as hell and a great friend. But there is something in his upbringing which - and here we must journey into the realms of massive generalisation - makes him sometimes appear arrogant and condescending.

Being a lone Kiwi in the midst of such a group inevitably brings on the sheep jokes ('How can you tell a Kiwi in a shoe store? He's the one over by the Ug boots with a hard-on'. It's funny the first 1500 times ...). They do not appear to recognise the unconscious irony of: NZ - 47 million sheep; Australia - 120 million. The English pull the same sheep-shagger stuff on the Welsh.

Australian men sometimes exhibit an over-developed "lucky country" gland. It is a great country, when all is said and done, pulling itself up by its bootlaces to become a world power and certainly a world sporting power. That can often make the Australian sporting male a bad winner and a good loser - sometimes insufferable when they win but prepared to learn and try harder when they don't. Interestingly, Kiwis are often the opposite - good winners but bad losers. But from that Australian success can sprout an unlikeable attitude of superiority; chauvinism even.

That's meant in the broadest sense of the word, although I know several women who consider Australian men, especially sporting men, to be too much hard work in regards to the way they view women. But we are again in danger of descending too far into the Valley Of Over-Generalisation; time to get back on track.

In terms of race relations, Australians have learned to embrace many of their immigrants over the years - Italians, Greeks, Lebanese and so on - but they seem to struggle with their own indigenous people and, maybe, people of darker hue.

Of the countries in which I have lived where race relations were an issue, I'd rank them thus: Singapore 1, NZ 2, UK 3. Australia is a long way behind.

Singaporeans take the biscuit because they have four main ethnic groups in their society: Chinese, Malays, Indians and Caucasians. They get along pretty damned well - because they have to. Their only asset is their people and their ability. Being riven by racial strife would disadvantage all; damage the economy. So they get along to the extent that they learn each other's languages and genuinely respect each other's traditions and religions.

This occurs even though there are obvious differences between the races. Some ethnic Malays believe Singapore to be a Malay state suborned by Chinese. Some Chinese cover up in the hot sun so they do not get tanned and "look like a Malay". A friend, when she arrived in Singapore, was advised by a local: "If you are crossing the road and you see an Indian and a snake, watch out for the Indian."

New Zealand is still balancing on the tightrope of race relations. We are learning fast, having made the tremendous step of dealing with our past, Maori reparations and graduating from a society that used to employ dawn raids against overstayers to celebrating the Polynesian influence here.

The Brits have embraced their Asian and black immigrants and rate third only because the redneck, lunatic fringe at the opposite end of the racial-political spectrum seems much larger than here in New Zealand. Then there's the Aussies ...

Perhaps their biggest failing is a reluctance to deal with the Aboriginal issue(s). They have apologised but not made reparations. The views of many male Aussies on the subject are from the race relations equivalent of the Dark Ages (no pun intended).

It could be argued that overall failing - that basic lack of equality and respect - has trickled down into sport. However, there is one great truism about sport - there are precious few racial divides on the playing field. The football codes, in particular, are like trench warfare. Players stand side by side in physical circumstances, building trust and inter-racial respect.

Ask anyone. I have played rugby in four countries. In Singapore, there was often verbal jousting between the races which, to those unfamiliar with the context, might have sounded racist. Mostly, it was just fun. The trust earned on the field enabled fun to be poked harmlessly.

In New Zealand, in the same context, I have played games of touch between the "blacks" and "whites"; have had a team-mate we all called 'Maori'; have traded mock insults between "coconuts" and "honkies". None of it taken seriously; none of it meant to sting.

Such things help to build racial respect. The difference is, I believe, that some in Australia (stress the word 'some') haven't really earned the right yet to behave similarly. Brown's "cannibals" remark might have been meant, in his own mind, as a term of endearment and/or humour - even though he attempted to dissuade journalists from repeating his comments.

You can see how he might think that. What it really demonstrates is that some in Australian sport have awareness - but not yet understanding.