Fairfax radio’s cricket commentator John Emburey has said he keeps his “back to the wall’ when he’s on Sydney’s Oxford Street.
During the Australia vs India test match at the Sydney Cricket Ground the commentator shared that he once accidentally went shopping on Oxford Street, the centre of queer life in Sydney.
“I felt like coming out of the shop with my back against the wall”, said the former English test cricketer.
The commentators comments were noted by Queensland listener Peter Taggart who posted the comments to his Twitter account.
The radio network has been aggressively promoting its cricket commentary team under the banner ‘Opinions and Opinionated’.
A spokesperson for Fairfax Radio has confirmed to OUTinPerth that a “throwaway line” was mentioned by one of the commentary team during today’s broadcast.
The staff monitoring the broadcast said the comment was not said with any innuendo or connotation of sexual assault of any kind. Fairfax’s spokesperson said the staff were strongly of the view that the comments were not intended to be negative or derogatory.
The station has promised to investigate the comments further and stated that they do not condone comments which are inappropriate towards any group of people.
Emburey, 62, played test cricket for England from 1978 to 1993 and was a noted spin bowler.
He is the only English player to have participated in both the rebel tours of South Africa defying the ban on playing in the then pro-apartheid country. Following his participation in the rebel tours Emburey faced long bans on playing test cricket.
Last year Cricket Australia launched a campaign alongside other sporting codes to reduce homophobia in the sport.
Graeme Watson
