CSA slam Aussie journo's behaviour
Cricket South Africa (CSA) has reacted angrily to an ugly incident which occurred at Adelaide Airport on Monday when the Proteas arrived for the third and final Test against Australia this week.
A South African security official was caught on camera shoving an Australian journalist aside when he attempted to grab an unauthorised doorstep flash interview with Proteas stand-in captain Faf du Plessis.
Du Plessis is due to face an International Cricket Council (ICC) disciplinary hearing later this week on alleged ball tampering charges during the second Test in Hobart last week in what has popularly been dubbed "Mintgate" or "Lollygate" in the Australian media.
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Television footage was shown of Du Plessis rubbing mint-laced saliva onto the match ball to create more swing, leading to ICC CEO Dave Richardson ordering a hearing on a date yet to be determined.
As media professionals, we are all aware of the protocols surrounding teams and CSA made quite clear last week following the announcement that Du Plessis had officially been charged, that no further comment would be issued on the matter.
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Here is the full statement by CSA:
The Australian media and Channel 9 News in particular have been advised on numerous occasions over the past few days that Cricket South Africa and captain, Faf du Plessis, are not in a position to comment on the alleged ball tampering issue.
However, despite our best to intentions to co-operate with the Australian media, Channel 9 News’ behaviour has been disappointing. We have advised of our media protocol which has been blatantly ignored, both at the team’s hotel in Melbourne on Friday and Saturday and again at the airport in Adelaide today.
This is the third incident of a reporter aggressively harassing our players with blatant disrespect of the above-mentioned media protocol.
The ‘reporter’ at the airport disrespected us and continued to harass Faf for comment. The ‘reporter’ was also in the unusual position of being in the middle of the players’ walkway to the bus. He was advised to move three times, and did not adhere to this request. The ‘reporter’, who also had no official accreditation, then proceeded to lunge towards Faf with an unknown object causing a direct breach of security protocol. The reporter also shoved the team manager in the back.
Throughout the tour we have respected all our media obligations and treated media with the utmost respect. At the same time, we would like to see this respect reciprocated and will not accept such behaviour as displayed by the Channel 9 News reporter.