Is English cricket, not just Yorkshire cricket, institutionally racist?

Pot & Kettle

Do we have to wear sack cloth and ashes (not The Ashes) for things that happened many years ago? The climate was different then. I can’t see the point in punishing someone for a past remark. What needs to be looked at is where cricket is now and where it is going so the past is learnt from.

i'm not saying that cricket is an elite sport, not like polo or skiing, but it is niche.
there are cricket clubs around.
but it is not played in schools.
so unless a youngster knows someone who plays, it is unlikely that they will find a way into it.
it is not on their radar.
may be different oop north, and in country villages.
but i am speaking of cities/burbs.
and remember most people posting on here are middle class, so not representative of the population as a whole.
middle class people are more likely to be acquainted with cricket.
football is the mass sport in uk.

worried well something was eventually said about the Muslim grooming gangs but not before many young girls had been very cruelly abused.

Zoejory

These anti Semitic tweets do him no good at all.

I think The Times unearthed them.

One day people will learn not to tweet

Tweeting seems to be a compulsion....when will they learn?

Having recently had a building labourer working on our extension who was cricket mad and had his sons and granchildren playing it and having read the village Facebook page with all the news about the social club on the green where the crcket and fotball club are based, I see nothing to support your conviction that cricket is a middle class game.

welbeck I assume you have spent your life in urban environments, but villages, even big ones like the one I live in, are more democratic where people from all backgrounds in the village mix in social activities and children from all backgrounds will join village sports club where they play football in winter and cricket in summer.

Children from all backgrounds attend the local state schools, primary and secondary, even children from very well off homes, so they all have equal opportunities, or not, to play cricket at school, and happily mix in the playground and on the school bus.

25Avalon The racism complained off by this cricketer happened over the last 5 years and is/was still going on until he raised the issue. This is not something that happened a long time ago . it is happening now.

Aveline

*worried well* something was eventually said about the Muslim grooming gangs but not before many young girls had been very cruelly abused.

Nothing to do with Azeem Rafiq or cricket.

welbeck

i'm not saying that cricket is an elite sport, not like polo or skiing, but it is niche.
there are cricket clubs around.
but it is not played in schools.
so unless a youngster knows someone who plays, it is unlikely that they will find a way into it.
it is not on their radar.
may be different oop north, and in country villages.
but i am speaking of cities/burbs.
and remember most people posting on here are middle class, so not representative of the population as a whole.
middle class people are more likely to be acquainted with cricket.
football is the mass sport in uk.

I used to live in a big city in the midlands. My kids played cricket at school, in summer they would be playing at the cricket club at the end of our road along with all their local friends.

theworriedwell I'm surprised you can't see the connection.

He that is without sin ….

The worriedwell We know one of the current England team. A lovely young man. He is working class. He played cricket at school, a comprehensive, he didn't know anyone who plays. I'm working class. We are in a city.

Can someone tell me why it is racist to refer to a person from Pakistan as a P when it is apparently ok to call a person from Britain a Brit, a person from Australia an Aussie, a person from Scotland a Jock, a person from the USA a Yank, a person from New Zealand a Kiwi etc etc. Or am I mistaken and all these names are racist? Am I missing something here?

But the P word isn’t just used for people from Pakistan, it’s used as a derogatory word for anyone with an Asian appearance, many may have been born here.

But it is derogatory to call a Jew a Yid or a person from Africa a N*****. So there is no immutable rule that all shortenings of nationality are benign. Some are, some aren't and P* for someone from Pakistan or the Indian sub-continent isn't.

Because on the whole British people havent been beaten in this country whilst someone shouted let's get the Brit, also I wouldnt use many if the descriptors you listed.

I live in a very naice rural village where the cricket club is in thre grounds of a house very much like in Downton Abbey. The club regularly asks children in the village to play or go to taster sessions. None of my boys would go as thy think it's posh but I think it is something they will regret in future and blame me for not pushing them to join....

theworriedwell

Aveline

Hurtful racist comments in cricket widely criticized. Dozens of young girls groomed and abused by Muslim men but nothing said because it could be seen as racist. Hmmmm.

They aren't connected unless you want to make some allegations?

You do realise that "something" was said or you wouldn't know anything about it.

Quite. Aveline, don’t you realise what you wrote could be viewed as racist

Racism in sport has been going on for years and is still ongoing. I’m not sure what the connection with grooming gangs is - many of these have been prosecuted and imprisoned, so something was done about it.

varian

Racism in cricket

Misoginism and sleaze in the Tory Party

Could this possibly be linked to the ethos of boys only private schools?

If you’re trying to say that racism is largely confined to the privileged, then frankly I’m bemused.

Misogyny is not confined to a particular section of society, either.

a person from Scotland a Jock

Just to be clear.... it's not ok to call somebody from Scotland a Jock.

It's insulting and derogatory. Why are we still having this conversation?

And a brit is a small fish. How apt.

NotTooOld

Can someone tell me why it is racist to refer to a person from Pakistan as a P when it is apparently ok to call a person from Britain a Brit, a person from Australia an Aussie, a person from Scotland a Jock, a person from the USA a Yank, a person from New Zealand a Kiwi etc etc. Or am I mistaken and all these names are racist? Am I missing something here?

Yes you’re missing the oppression and abuse meted out to people of colour by white colonials over hundreds of years. P is used as an aggressive term of abuse. Some people pretend it’s banter. It isn’t

BBC News : Azeem Rafiq has apologised and said he is "deeply ashamed" for using anti-Semitic language in Facebook messages from 2011

So many skeletons in the closets, everyone in the public eye must be on edge as the magnifying glasses are out dissecting everything they’ve ever said/done in the past - this can’t be healthy as it must dilute and distract from the bigger issues.
It’s like when they say ‘lessons will be learnt’ - actually learn from them and not just give lip service!
Discrimination, racism, bullying - needs stamping out - actions are needed going forward, people need to own their past failings, learn from them and move on and do better. What can hounding people and victimisation do really, individuals and organisations need to look to the future and do better.
Social media and the news outlets need to do better.
Bring back common sense, morals and human kindness!

The relatively small proportion of people educated in private schools do get blamed for a quite disproportionate amount of the countries ills.

Yes, I know a lot at the top of politics in one party went to very limited number of private schools, and a surprising number in the other were privately educated, but the majority of children from all backgrounds in this country, from poor to wealthy, go to state schools.

So often offense is 'taken' rather than intentionally 'given'. I sometimes wonder if I should feel offended if I am called 'white', or resent 'cultural appropriation' by seeing' suits and ties or T shirts being worn by other nations?

Luckily I don't feel either, just saddened by the one-sidedness of it all!

the guy has a lot of debts and is using the racist card to cover it he also sent anti semitic texts so not as saintly as he makes out. Career on the down so wanted to up his profile. no patience with him gets all he deserves