Sri Lankan Community Threatens Legal Action Against Umpires (13 Jan 1996)

LEGAL ACTION AGAINST UMPIRES

Incensed Sri Lankan community in Sydney have threatened to take legal action against the two Australian umpires who have accused Muthiah Muralitharan of `chucking`.

`The Sydney Morning Herald` reported on Monday: "The row over the 23-year-old off-spinner`s action now threatens to escalate into a legal and diplomatic stoush, with prominent Sri Lankan commun- ity leaders accusing Australia of a thinly-veiled racial conspiracy against the game`s minnows``.

The paper reported that a wealthy Sydney businessman Lakshman Jayaweeera had pledged A$100,000 to cover the costs of bringing defamation actions against the Sydney umpire Darrell Hair and his West Australian colleague Ross Emerson, who have both noballed Muralitharan for throwing.

Jayaweera was quoted by the newspaper: "Ninety percent of the Sri Lankans in Australia are professional people and we can easily find whatever it costs to bring this action. Everyone is deeply upset. Can you imagine this happening to Shane Warne or a bowler from England? - of course not``.

The president of Sydney`s Sri Lanka Lions SC, Kularatna de Silva was quoted by the paper: "There are 100,000 Sri Lankans living in Australia. This is our adopted country but many are ashamed to say it at the moment. This is a conspiracy by Australia and they think they can get away with it because we are only poor little Sri Lanka``.

Source:: Lake House/Lanka Internet Services