Former Australian netball captain Liz Ellis has slammed South African cricket fans for a vile sledge targeting the wife of an Australian player.
Fans arrived at the second Test in South Africa on Monday wearing masks of Sonny Bill Williams’ face – a reference to a toilet tryst between player David Warner’s wife Candice and the rugby player more than 10 years ago.
A day earlier, Warner had to be pulled away from a South African player who allegedly made a comment about the incident after the players had left the field.
Ms Ellis said the sledging was not the main issue at hand – it was the fact Candice was being shamed over her actions from 2007.
Former Australian netball captain Liz Ellis (pictured) unleashed on South Australian cricket fans on Sunday after they arrived at the second test wearing masks of rugby player Sonny Bill Williams
The masks (pictured) were intended to put off Australian player David Warner, whose wife Candice was caught having an intimate moment with Williams in 2007 inside a toilet cubicle
Candice was not in a relationship with Warner at the time, and Ms Ellis questioned why the mother-of-two’s previous actions needed to be brought into the game
‘I don’t see fans turning up to All Blacks games with Candice Falzon masks so how dare they turn up at a South African cricket game in masks of the wife of one of the cricketers (because of someone) she was formerly involved with in some way,’ she said.
‘It is disgraceful, it is upsetting.’
‘It really does slam home this idea some neanderthals have – that women are the property of men.’
The former Swifts captain said incidents like this one undid a lot of the good and beneficial things sport had done for society.
‘It upsets me to the core because I think sport is a real driver in society and generally it’s a driver for good. You think of all the good things that have happened and been started in sport, and here we have an international sporting contest that is essentially saying to women, the message is, “You come here as a Madonna, you come here pure or you don’t come here at all”,’ she said.
Candice Warner is a currently spectator at the test match together with her young daughters Indi and Ivy
The dispute stemmed from comments made by de Kock about Warner’s wife earlier in the test. Ms Ellis pointed out nobody had sledged Sonny Bill Williams for his role in the tryst
‘Everyone is focusing on the sledging. What I think is the controversy is that 40 years after the sexual revolution… 40 years after that, in the middle of the #MeToo movement, in the week of International Women’s Day, a player’s wife is being dragged through the mud because they’re attempting to shame her for her past,’ she said.
Ms Ellis also noted Candice did not play cricket – and her past actions had nothing to do with the game of cricket, especially considering David Warner wasn’t her partner at the time.
‘Why in the 21st century are we talking about defending a woman? For a reference to her past relationships? The whole thing is abhorrent,’ she said.
Meanwhile two Cricket South Africa officials have been flown to Johannesburg to face disciplinary action and face being sacked, The Australian reported.
It comes after they were photographed with fans wearing Sonny Bill Williams masks.
Ms Ellis said the distribution and uptake of the masks ‘really does slam home this idea some neanderthals have – that women are the property of men’
CSA head of commercial Clive Eksteen and marketing and head of communications Altaaf Kazi have been summoned to Johannesburg as the CS President Chris Nenzani issued a formal apology.
‘On behalf of CSA I extend my sincere apologies to the Board of Cricket Australia (CA), its officials, team management, players and their families,’ he said.
‘Cricket South Africa wishes to distance itself from the alleged action of certain officials in associating themselves with fans wearing masks representing the face of Sonny Bill Williams.
‘While CSA respects the rights of its fans to represent their own points of view, CSA does not associate itself with these actions.’
The CSA urges its fans to refrain from engaging in distasteful and unwelcome acts that could impact on players or supporters of the game.