Symonds 'not sensitive' about racism

Andrew Symonds says he is not overly sensitive about racism but considers comments unacceptable when they come from opposition players with whom he has no friendship. Harbhajan Singh was suspended for three Tests for allegedly calling Symonds a monkey during the Sydney Test and while Symonds would not discuss the specifics of the case he said he would not kick up a fuss with players he got along with.

"I'm not a sensitive person about it,'' Symonds told the Sunday Telegraph. "If you know me well you can have a joke to me about anything and any part of racism and I'll laugh.

"I mean, I'm not sensitive about it but if I'm not your friend, if you're an opposition player or something like that, it is unacceptable. Even with opposition players, if I do know them well and they want to joke about something like that, it doesn't stir me up so what's happened is something I and the Australian boys have taken very seriously."

But the Indian camp has strenuously denied that Harbhajan used the term "monkey" and has launched an appeal, meaning Harbhajan is free to play for India until the appeal is heard. No date has been set for the hearing and there is no guarantee it will happen before the final Test in the series, which starts in Adelaide on January 24.

"It is a really difficult thing for me to comment on as it hasn't been totally resolved," Symonds said. "Obviously, people are very interested in what's happened but they probably won't actually know exactly what's happened for quite some time, until the dust has settled."

Symonds said he became used to hearing comments about his appearance during his school years and he was not easily offended. "I'm very relaxed about life and I understand there are many different types of people," he said.

"You know, I used to have a bit of fun and people used to have a bit of fun with me in the playground when I was at school so I understand that kids are very blunt about that sort of thing. But it [racism] is one of those things that, in the modern day, is obviously very publicly unacceptable."