‘The Grade Cricketer’, a popular YouTube channel which primarily discusses Indian cricket, has removed the contentious clip of an Australian ‘journalist’ named Gideon Haigh comparing Indian cricket fans to ‘Nazi supporters.’
The said YouTube channel, run by two Australian cricket enthusiasts Sam Perry and Ian Higgins, had invited Haigh as a guest for its 250th episode titled ‘How Do You Beat India?’ on Tuesday (October 17)
At about 1 hour 23 minutes into the programme, the Australian ‘journalist’ claimed, “The sight of all those blue shirts at the Narendra Modi stadium the other night was bizarre. It looked like a Nuremberg rally, didn’t it?”
Gideon Haigh casually made the outrageous comparison between Indian cricket fans in blue jerseys and a rally of Hitler supporters in Nuremberg city of Germany during the Nazi era.
His comment was directed at the Indians, who watched the India Vs Pakistan match of the 2023 World Cup live at the Narendra Modi Stadium on 14th October. As expected, the Australian ‘journalist’ was slammed by netizens on social media.
Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra wrote, “Used to be a well-informed journalist. Seems like he stopped attending India World Cup games long back…even the ones that took place in Australia. I’m just waiting for some Indian journalists to use this to validate their own agendas.”
“This is such garbage from Gideon Haigh. I have criticized BCCI for a lot of bungling for this WC. But the home crowd coming out in Blue (the colour of India’s jersey) is a Nuremberg Rally? This is ignorant crap. The home crowd can’t wear the team colour now?” another X (formerly Twitter) user wrote.
Hindu advocacy group, SHHAN, tweeted, “If supporting home team is a Nazi-level crime, all countries including Australia are accused of having a “Nazi Nuremberg crowd.”
Following outrage on social media, The Grade Cricketer removed the contentious clip of Gideon Haigh. This is however not the first time that the Australian ‘journalist’ stirred the hornet’s nest with his contentious comments.
In February 2021, he wrote a 1000-word article titled ‘Ugly trend that can poison Indian cricket’ wherein he shared his pre-conceived beliefs about the Modi government as facts.
Haigh also lied about the farm laws to his predominantly Australian audience and whitewashed anarchy and violence as ‘peaceful protests.’ He cast aspersions on the integrity of Indian cricketers and played the ‘Muslim card’ to draw global sympathy.