Should Ollie Robinson be dropped from next cricket series??

Ollie Robinson can resume playing cricket again having served 3 months of his 8 match ban, the other 5 being suspended for 2 years. He was also fined £3,200. That is with mitigating circumstances!! Still seems a bit harsh but I suppose it sends out a warning message for other foolish young people to think before they tweet.

Mollygo it should go both ways without a doubt.

I do think it is a good lesson particularly for the young, I've certainly been talking to GC about it, not the little ones but the teenagers, it is a good lesson for them.

The ones who abused my GS are a bit young to be thinking about their future careers so might be a bit lost on them but I can't believe parents would stand there listening to their 7 year olds shouting racist abuse and do nothing.

Theworriedwell
When we complained to the school about the teenagers’ remarks to my daughters and friends, it was made quite clear that, had the insults been made in the other direction, severe repercussions would have taken place, but we were just being over sensitive.
I think it will be a good lesson to all internet users, that your past behaviour can and will be dragged up again and again.
I’m not suggesting there should be no punishment.

Mollygo

The ‘n’ word was already unacceptable when I was growing up and we did not use it.
Is it appropriate to punish someone severely for something they said 8-9 years ago? He has apologised profusely. He has had his misdemeanour publicised throughout the cricketing world and throughout Britain, and that will be remembered forever.
A short suspension and some activity of the sort mention by Callistemon seems more appropriate.
On the other hand, if I could publicise the names of and punish the teenagers who repeatedly called my daughters and their friends ‘white trash’, I’d certainly do so. Perhaps that makes me hypocritical.

When did they call your daughter names? Is there a time when it is OK to think a punishment is appropriate.

Why should the punishment get less over time, just because he's got away with it for 8 or 9 years should he be treated differently to one of his team mates who makes that remark today, even if they then apologise?

maddyone

He shouldn’t be punished for life for something he did in his youth. Even murderers get out of prison.

Has anyone suggested he should be punished for life? People seem to be up in arms about him missing one match.

The ‘n’ word was already unacceptable when I was growing up and we did not use it.
Is it appropriate to punish someone severely for something they said 8-9 years ago? He has apologised profusely. He has had his misdemeanour publicised throughout the cricketing world and throughout Britain, and that will be remembered forever.
A short suspension and some activity of the sort mention by Callistemon seems more appropriate.
On the other hand, if I could publicise the names of and punish the teenagers who repeatedly called my daughters and their friends ‘white trash’, I’d certainly do so. Perhaps that makes me hypocritical.

He shouldn’t be punished for life for something he did in his youth. Even murderers get out of prison.

One game suspension would be appropriate as long as the time was spent on an appropriate course or perhaps teaching deprived minorities cricket skills.
Something positive from a negative.

If we were all to be punished for past transgressions then I imagine half the country would be in jail and the other half beating themselves with birch twigs.
If he did the same thing tomorrow that would be a different matter. If he had committed a crime that would be a different matter, but the definition of a crime changes over time. Was this a crime at the time? I don't think so.

I think its a dangerous path to go down to start punishing people for things they did when they were younger. We all did stupid things when we didn't know any better. I am sure he has changed along with the world and what is and isn't acceptable.

I wonder how many people in the public eye of all races would be keen for you to go back through their social media from years ago? I'm betting he isn't the only one who could find themselves in hot water for views they held in ignorance and now recognise that.

At 18 many of us are still influenced by parental attitudes, friends and the area we grew up in.
I would be more interested in his behaviour now. If he is still racist and sexist then he may always be that way but we don't know if he is deeply ashamed now of what he did then.
I wouldn't want to judge someone on teenage behaviour, even if it was vile, as people change as they get older.

No, he shouldn’t be dropped.

janeainsworth

Crossed posts worriedwell.
How awful for your GS.

Thank you, it is hard to explain it to a 7 year old particularly when they got the ethnicity wrong which totally confused him.

JenniferEccles

This has been completely blown out of all proportion, and I was very pleased to see that the PM has said much the same.

He apologised, admitted he was wrong, but for goodness sake it was a decade ago.
Are we to be punished for ever for saying something inappropriate when we were young?

A lot of fuss over nothing.

Has he been punished? He might have said it a decade ago, I don't think it was quite that long but never mind, but what punishment has he had? I don't think anyone on here has said he should be punished forever, well I suppose you have mentioned it.

The cricket board want to investigate it, they will probably want to talk to other players to see if there are any issues, team spirit is important and I notice several cricketers seem to have come out and said the cricket board are doing the right thing.

Crossed posts worriedwell.
How awful for your GS.

He was a teenager at the time
I think it’s time we stopped infantilising young adults.
At 18 they can get married, have sex, become parents, vote, drink alcohol, join the armed forces and possibly die in service of their country.
All things which require thought and judgement. Decades ago, they would have been in employment for four years.
An 18 year old in 2012, far more media-savvy than his parents or grandparents, should have realised a)that most other people would consider what he wrote abominable and b)what goes on the Internet stays on the Internet.
What he obviously didn’t factor in was that years later he would be the victim of whoever took the time and trouble to unearth these historic tweets and feed them to the newspapers.

What I find more worrying is the thought that there must be much more of the same on Twitter and other sites that most of us know nothing about.

This has been completely blown out of all proportion, and I was very pleased to see that the PM has said much the same.

He apologised, admitted he was wrong, but for goodness sake it was a decade ago.
Are we to be punished for ever for saying something inappropriate when we were young?

A lot of fuss over nothing.

He was a teenager but he was also an adult. Would you say the same about teenagers who commit crimes? At 19 my father was serving in WWII so let's not talk like he was a child. Actions have consequences and there should be a proportionate consequence and the other members of the team need to be considered, should a black player be made to feel uncomfortable in the changing room? Let's think of the people who are the subject of these posts. My GS is 7, he is mixed race and has already had his first experience of racist abuse at a football match. I hope those boys and their families will stop and think about their actions and how it could affect them in the future.

Oldwoman70

Of course the remarks should never have been made but he was only 18 and has apologised several times. Should he not be judged on his current outlook and how he talks to and about people now? Has he made similar tweets or comments in the last few years or has he seen the error of his ways?

We cannot continue to punish people for things they posted years ago if they have shown they no longer hold those views

Exactly that??
He has apologised publicly....what do some want, a flogging?
He was a teenager at the time.If all the things most people had said or done when that age were to be made public and they were vilified and shamed and stopped from doing their jobs, how would that be?
He shouldn’t be suspended, it would be quite wrong.

I don't think his career should be ruined but I do think there should be consequences. Maybe he should get involved in grassroots cricket helping girls/womens teams and perhaps schools in multicultural areas. I'm sure they would love some coaching and it might teach him something.

I also think our PM and the Sports Minister should keep out of it, they are just making it worse. Of course the PM has made racist and sexist remarks himself and Oliver Dowden seems very protective of slave traders statues and has threatened to remove funding from a museum if they remove a statue even though it is reported the local community want it removed.

Presumably (though I haven't check it) this was why he lost his job in 2014 for unprofessional actions that weren't disclosed at that time.

Don't let's just wave this away.
These words essentially came from this man.
I hope he is a better person now.

I would be ashamed if this was my son.

It's not that long ago. He should be dropped for at least one game and sent on a rehabilitation course; he is an embarrassment to the team and to the country.

I'd be horrified too, NotSpaghetti if he were mine.

The tweets, sent between April 2012 and June 2013, included use of the 'N' word, comments suggesting Muslim people were linked with terrorism, and derogatory comments about women and people of Asian heritage. Robinson was aged 18 and 19 at the time, and representing either Leicestershire, Kent and Yorkshire in second-team cricket. And presumably he was playing cricket with team mates of Afro Carribean, Black British, British Muslim heritage amongst others, which makes his remarks even more unpalatable.

Just so people know, it wasn't even just one batch of tweets. He tweeted this type of stuff for 14 months according to cricketing website ESPN cricinfo.

The tweets, sent between April 2012 and June 2013, included use of the 'N' word, comments suggesting Muslim people were linked with terrorism, and derogatory comments about women and people of Asian heritage. Robinson was aged 18 and 19 at the time, and representing either Leicestershire, Kent and Yorkshire in second-team cricket.

well my children are 24 and 27, about the same age as this lad, and of the same generation of education, entertainment, music, society and politics, and I can assure you that they did not use language like this, are not racists or sexists, and neither are any of their friends, it is not part of our family make up. I suppose Urm would describe them as 'woke'. Again, can we remember that this was 7 or 8 years ago, just before the Referendum to put it into time context, not the 1950s. I don't think he should be hung out to dry, but to those of you excusing him or describing it as banter; do your adult children use language like this?