Cricket Umpire Receives a Death Threat from LTTE Tamil Tiger Terrorists
The Daily Telegraph, Wednesday 12 May 1999 - Page 72 (Back Cover- Sports Page)
UNDER GUARD
Protection for Hair as extremists deliver death threat
By ROBERT CRADDOCK
AUSTRALIAN umpire Darrell Hair has been threatened by extremist Sri Lankan cricket
supporters who claim his life is in danger during cricket's World Cup.
Hair received a letter from representatives of the Tamil Tigers who have fought a
bloody civil war in Sri Lanka since the early 1980s in an attempt to gain an
independent autonomous homeland in the northern regions of the country.
The Tamils are still furious about Hair's decision to no-ball off spinner Muttiah
Muralidharan on the Boxing Day Test in 1995.
Muralidharan is the pin-up boy of the Tamil race and remains the only Tamil in
Sri Lanka's 15-man World Cup party.
Part of the letter said "we have representatives of our people throughout all
major nations of the world and we will take action against you for what you
have done."
Hair received the letter before he left Australia and immediately reported it to the
Australian Cricket Board and International Cricket Council chief f executive David
Richards.
The letter was unsigned but was posted from Harrow on the north-west outskirts of
London, only a few miles from Southgate, where Hair stood last night in a
trial match between South Africa and Middlesex.
Hair, unable to comment on the letter due to a tournament directive which forbids
Cup umpires from speaking about anything other than basic rain rules, will fulfil
his Cup obligations in spite of the letter.
ICC officials, however, have decided against giving him any matches involving Sri
Lanka.
It was thought that Hair was kept away from Sri Lanka's games because the ICC did
not want the Cup tarnished by another throwing incident.
But, at the time the decision was made, the ICC was also aware of the death threats
and may have been acting in the best interests of Hair's safety.
In the months after he called Muralidharan, Hair received several death threats and
was shaken when he realised some must have been hand delivered to his letter box
because they had no post-marks.
He did not tell the ACB about those threats but later regretted not doing so and
took swift action when the last letter arrived.
He did not ask the ACB or the ICC to give him special protection but simply wanted
to make them aware of the threat.
Hair, rated one of the top three umpires in the world, will not be given special
protection during the Cup but security of all teams and umpires will be upgraded as a
result of recent crowd riots in West Indies.
Hair angered the Sri Lankans by branding Muralidharan's action "diabolical" in
his recent biography Decision Maker.
Muralidharan, no-balled by umpire Ross Emerson in Australia last summer, is likely to
escape without being called in the Cup, partially because some umpires believe his action
is clean and partially because other umpires have grave doubts but do not want to make a
spectacle of themselves on the world stage.
Umpires are aware of the misery endured by Hair and Emerson in the months after they
no-balled Muralidharan.
Muralidharan's action, however, remains one of the quirkiest in the game and the matter of
grave suspicion among many umpires and observers.