A man has been banned from going to cricket in Australia for three years after he wrote racist graffiti aimed at a South African player.

The incident happened on Saturday afternoon at the Bellerive Oval, where a 24-year-old man is alleged to have written an offensive message on a fence inside the ground, directed towards Hashim Amla.

The incident was caught on CCTV, and now the man is going to appear in court after being charged on summons.

‘Cricket Australia takes a zero-tolerance approach to anti-social behaviour at any of our matches, which includes racial vilification.

‘Our message to any fan attending a match is that if you display anti-social behaviour you will be removed and risk being banned from any cricket match across Australia, as well as police action being taken.’

It is not the first time South African players have been on the receiving end of offensive crowd behaviour in Australia.

Former fast bowler Makhaya Ntini spoke out about racial abuse from the crowd in Perth more than a decade ago, but since then Cricket Australia has cracked down on vilification of any kind at cricket grounds.

The Proteas are well in control of the match despite rain calling off day two. They are on 171-5 in response to Australia’s 85 all out.

Source: Fairfax media