The citizenship hobby horse is a bumpy ride for Aussie cricket fans

Wickham, G. (2013) The citizenship hobby horse is a bumpy ride for Aussie cricket fans. The Conversation, 9 July .

Abstract

One of the more bizarre hobbies of Australian cricket fans is to taunt and berate the English cricket team for the number of South African-born players in its ranks. This has been standard fare in most Ashes contests for many years now, even when they are played in England.

The next Ashes series, now just one sleep away, is likely to be no different. This year, though, those keen on this hobby may need to engage in more mental gymnastics than they are used to.

This is because Australia has - until recently - been coached by South African-born Mickey Arthur. Its federal parliament has also recently rushed through legislative changes to our citizenship rules, allowing the talented leg-spinner Fawad Ahmed to play Tests for Australia despite having come here relatively recently as a refugee.

Item Type:	Non-refereed Article
Publisher:	The Conversation Media Group
Copyright:	The Author
Publisher's Website:	http://theconversation.com/au
URI:	http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/29907

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