Racism in cricket

The startling disclosures made recently by former Yorkshire player Azeem Rafiq, with reference to racism and bullying that he was subjected to at the historic county club, has had the cricketing world reeling ever since.

The Pakistan-born cricketer bravely articulated the impact of racism on his mental health during a parliamentary select committee testimony last week in an account which was both emotional and damning, and shook the very foundations of the game in England.

Accusing the club of being institutionally racist, Azeem made as many as 43 allegations against the Yorkshire County Cricket Club (YCCC) and said he was close to taking his own life at the inhumane way he was treated there, especially at the time of receiving the news of his still-born son in the team’s dressing room. He also recalled being pinned down as a 15-year-old while having red wine forced down his throat.

Though Yorkshire launched a formal investigation into Rafiq’s allegations which were originally levelled in September 2020, the YCCC’s callous, racially-biased response since the probe’s findings came out in August this year vindicate much of Azeem’s accusations against the club.

Thankfully, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) reacted strongly and promptly to save English Cricket blushes to a reasonable extent. While acknowledging that Rafiq has indeed been a victim of inappropriate behaviour, the ECB suspended Yorkshire from hosting international matches over its “wholly unacceptable” attitude to the ugly racism row.

Racism in cricket is certainly not a new phenomenon though. In fact, it dates back to the inception of the game itself, around the early eighteenth century. The history of the game is replete with incidents of racism, none more glaring than the apartheid saga of the 1960s and ‘70s when a leading cricketing nation like South Africa openly indulged in racial abuse against the West Indies, India, Pakistan and other teams. There extreme racist policies eventually led to a ban from all international cricket for 21 long years.

Even though cricket is known as the gentleman’s game, several controversial and unfortunate incidents in and outside the playing arenas have often questioned the integrity and dignity of the international players in the past, and, unfortunately, continue to do so. A careful analysis of facts and events prove that racism in cricket is not just confined to England or South Africa and other countries like Australia and India have also been guilty of discriminatory behaviour towards players representing the respective minorities.

Great West Indian fast bowler Michael Holding, widely respected for his frank views on key issues confronting the game, wrote in his memoirs: “I remember the summer in 1976 in England when letters would come to the dressing room for us [West Indies] players, with racist messages: “Go back home, crawl back to the trees”, and such. We as a team decided to ignore them and I personally could do that easily because I knew I was going back home after the tour. But it also made me understand and appreciate why the West Indies cricket team’s performance mattered so much to black people in the UK. They could walk with their heads held high to their workplaces next morning. They could look into the eyes of their colleagues and feel, “I know I am as good as you.”

Nearly 45 years on, the Azeem Rafiq row has yet again confirmed how deep rooted racism still is in England cricket. His testimony features a number of former and current England players including ex-captain Michael Vaughan, current players Gary Balance, Alex Hales and a few others which ought to be a matter of grave concern for the ECB. Crucially, Azeem’s views have been endorsed by two current England players of Asian origin, Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali, who have finally mustered up the courage to speak about the racist taunts hurled at them by teammates and the crowds at various cricket grounds in England.

Amid the racism scandal at YCCC, the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) last week made an appeal to potential victims of racism and discrimination to come forward with evidence. Media reports suggest that more than 1,000 people have contacted the commission within less than a fortnight. Few other former players of Yorkshire academy, too, have come forward to speak about alleged racist abuse they suffered at the club while similar allegations of racist behaviour have emerged at Essex county club, warranting more investigations.

In South Africa, even to this day, they have a strict quota system for cricket teams which allows a franchise to field five white players and six black players. The rule says that at least six players in the team’s first eleven must be native South Africans. This is one of the reasons why many Proteas players are opting for other avenues such as migration or taking up cricket overseas, which means a talent drain for South Africa.

Recently, in the World T20 played in the UAE, South African wicketkeeper and opener Quinton de Kock pulled out at the last minute from his side’s eight-wicket win over the West Indies. The move was prompted by his opposition to an edict that the team was to kneel before the game in the widely understood and adopted gesture against racism.

De Kock’s move has drawn lot of criticism but despite the controversy the 28-year-old has received an offer of support from his captain. The saga surely is a reminder of sports’ difficult history with racism in South Africa and beyond.

In Australia, too, the centuries old racial bias against the Aborigines have not allowed the minority players to take up mainstream cricket there despite the fact that they are by no means short on either skill or talent. It is indeed an irony that while the first ever Australian cricket team selected for a Test tour of England was full of Aboriginal players in 1868, there have been just five Aboriginal cricketers who have played for Australia since.

Moreover, during the Indian cricket team’s tour to Australia last year, the cricket chiefs and NSW police were compelled to launch investigations into allegations of racist abuse of the India team from sections of the crowd in the third Test, after six people were ejected and play was halted for nearly 10 minutes on Sunday.

The probe revealed that Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah were allegedly being targeted with racial jibes when they fielded by the boundary ropes of the Sydney Cricket Ground.

That said, India itself could not be absolved of the racism allegations that have surfaced in the country during the past decade or so, primarily owing to the country’s racially biased policies against Muslims and other minorities. The vehement outburst against fast bowler Mohammad Shami following India’s ten-wicket drubbing by Pakistan in the World T20 opener is a case in point.

In another glaring incident, former West Indies captain Darren Sammy revealed that his Indian teammates at the IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad repeatedly used a racist nickname for him which left a bad taste in the mouth. Later, an Instagram post confirmed Sammy’s accusation. The cricketers involved did not face any punishment.

Despite such incidents, the cricket administrators and the authorities, regretfully, continue to look the other way rather than coming down hard on the culprits indulging in the dastardly acts. Though the International Cricket Council (ICC), founded in 1909, has many good things written in its charter, those are seldom practiced or implemented in letter and spirit which often creates a dichotomy in the way cricket is played around the world.

That needs to urgently end for the sake of the gentleman’s game to retain its appeal and its sanity. The Azeem Rafiq row could well prove to be the beginning of the end to racism in cricket.

The writer is News Editor, Bol News