Twenty-five years after the infamous Trevor Chappell under-arm bowling affair sporting relations between Australia and New Zealand nosedived again on Friday.
This time it was the normally sedate world of badminton which hosted the latest trans-Tasman spat when a Commonwealth Games men’s doubles match ended in acrimony.
New Zealand player Geoffrey Bellingham accused Australia’s Ashley Behaut of cheating when, with the match poised at 19-19 in the third and deciding game, Bellingham yelled: ”You’re a fucking cheat Brehaut”.
The umpire awarded Australia a point as punishment but Bellingham was unrepentant after the stormy encounter at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre, claiming that Brehaut’s serve was illegal because he raised his arm above the waist.
”In badminton you have got to keep the racquet below the waist [and he didn’t],” he said after the defeat.
”He won five points in a row and that’s just cheating. Unfortunately you are not allowed to call him a cheat, which is what I didn’t realise.”
Brehaut said he learnt to do a ”drive” serve while training in Malaysia and there was nothing illegal about it.
”If I’m cheating well then the umpire will call it, so as far as I’m concerned it’s in the laws, we just try and push the boundaries,” he said.
”You’ve got everyone here, a lot of families and he comes up and says, … I believe the words were: ‘You’re a fucking cheat Brehaut’.”
Friday’s incident comes 25 years after one of the most notorious incidents in cricket.
In 1981, in a one-day internatioanl at the nearby Melbourne Cricket Ground Australian skipper Greg Chappell ordered his brother Trevor to bowl underarm to stop New Zealand batsman Brian McKechnie scoring a six off the last ball which would have tied the game.
The two neighbours also fell out over the hosting of the 2003 rugby World Cup when New Zealand had to drop out of a joint bid due to problems over advertising and sponsorship at stadiums.
The Games have already witnessed high-profile arguments between the two countries.
Melbourne 2006 chairman Ron Walker fired a broadside at New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark for not turning up.
”We sent invitations to her but obviously she’s either too busy or doesn’t like sport, or both of those things. It would have been good for her to come and support her athletes,” he said.
Even the Kiwis’ beloved haka has come under fire for being overdone.
Normally associated with the mighty All Blacks, it was performed when the country’s rugby union side took the sevens gold and when swimmer Moss Burmester clinched the men’s 200m butterfly.
But it has also greeted bronze medal performances while on Friday the men’s hockey team staged it before the fifth and sixth-place play-off with India. – Sapa-AFP