Racism in Cricket - Our Responsibility

It’s been a torrid week for cricket.

The Azeem Rafiq whistleblowing case has focused a spotlight on individuals’ words, a toxic organisational culture and sent seismic cracks through the game’s core values.

As a former player, I’ve watched in disbelief as cricket has made the front page and news headlines day after day. At the beginning of the week, I knew very little of Azeem as a cricketer but by Wednesday I knew his entire backstory. The details he raised were shocking and unacceptable and I thought he handled himself brilliantly throughout the enquiry. The DCMS select committee has rightly raised the profile on this pivotal issue and suggests that independent regulator could be put in place to ensure swift and sustained change takes place across the game.

I struggle giving pithy quotes to such deep and complex societal issues, so I’ve spent the last few days reflecting. By Thursday there was a plot twist, Azeem himself is in the spotlight for an anti-Semitic message he sent to a friend 10 years ago. As we could have predicted thousands of social media commentators are quick to discredit his initial claim based on the hypocrisy of the situation. 'Let those who live in glass houses cast the first stone' and all that…… but they are missing the point.

The historic phrases and language his teammates used were repulsive, but one side comment he made in his statement worried me about the future – that he wouldn’t want his children to get involved in the game of cricket. I felt conflict because I’m proud to have played and coached for over 20 years, it’s allowed me to travel the world, learn about and work with cultures as diverse as the Afghan, Kenyan, Indian, West Indian, Sri Lankan and South African national and franchise teams – I’ve seen the spirit of cricket transform individuals lives and communities, so I’m not prepared to accept that the game is the problem.

As we end the week, my personal take is this….

60+ years ago with migrant workers called to help rebuild Britain after the wars there was an obvious cultural clash of ‘us’ and ‘them’ as hard-working Indian and West Indian tradespeople drove, manufactured and rebuilt Britain's infrastructure and confidence. This influx was rapid, and the natural culture clash generated an intolerant belief and language system that was about division rather than inclusion. Since then, international migration has accelerated and become the norm as we are all free to find work and live wherever we choose across the globe. Over time we’ve seen greater integration and a blurring of cultural boundaries.

The binary belief and language systems have softened through time as cultures have merged and worked and socialised more closely – sport has played a huge role here as people of different cultures cheer for England in cricket, football, or rugby. But there are still sharp and painful edges, as a middle-aged white man I cannot begin to imagine a life of prejudice and exclusion, but I know I don’t want to create or perpetuate that for others. I was gripped by the words of former international cricketers and now commentators Michael Holding and Ebony Rainford Brent last summer explaining their experiences of racism and inequality.

Sport is fuelled by emotion so it can polarise or galvanise people. After retiring and retraining in psychology I was lucky enough to work with the South African cricket team as they rose to the Number one team in the world in 2008-11. For the first time in their history, their team was truly representative of the Rainbow nation with seven cultures including Muslim, Afrikaans, Xhosa, English players within it. The challenge was that this was never harnessed as a competitive advantage, so the diversity was a reason for cliques and division. Alongside team culture expert Owen Eastwood and the team's senior leaders we ran a project to tackle this and found the ancient African philosophy of Ubuntu in our research which Nelson Mandela was passionate about. Ubuntu basically says that you can’t judge your success in life by your personal status or wealth, but you can only judge your success by the impact you have on others, that it's our connection with others which makes us human. Imagine if our impact on others was the only way we were judged and rewarded – imagine the kind of culture would that create? Suddenly our words and deeds would be of tangible value.

When we presented this to the team, it became the shared purpose that would galvanise these characters from different backgrounds and faiths into one formidable team. Their skill was undeniable, but did they have the character to put their team first and help their peers from different backgrounds to realise their potential? Could they see that beyond winning, they represented 50 million people who looked to them with hope of what a tolerant and inclusive culture could be? Far from being the problem, cricket was a beacon of hope. Through that period the Proteas created a team culture which is one of the best I’ve seen in the world. It balanced individual ambition and dedication with selfless sacrifice to the team’s higher ambitions. Clubs, schools, and communities from every corner of South Africa looked on as their heroes won – together. The interlocking arms of the team huddle was a mirror for every community in the land and inspired thousands of people to believe in a brighter future. The players understood their responsibility to lead their communities and nation forward.

As I zoom back into the granular comments made by Azeem’s team mates a decade ago – I genuinely feel for him and anyone else who has experienced this. It’s easy to say that was a one off, a different era, a single club or it’s societies issue. The problem is that leaves us powerless and makes it someone else’s issue. The fact is that we all contribute to society through our words, actions, and choices so we should consider whether our contribution is uniting or dividing people further.

Our real challenge is to use this week’s scandal to reflect on times in our own lives when we’ve said and done things which have excluded, embarrassed or even humiliated others. It could even be that we stood and watched or heard things but said nothing to challenge them. By ignoring it, we are complicit – we must become actively intolerant, to become antiracist and this can only be done by taking personal accountability.

As Nelson Mandela said ‘Sport has the power to change the world, it is more powerful than governments. It speaks to people in a language they understand – sport creates hope where once there was despair.’

Of course, cricket’s governing bodies and leaders need to seize this moment to drive change but far from seeing cricket as the problem, If we take personal responsibility for the culture we all create, I’m confident that cricket can be part of the solution.?

Thanks for taking the time to read this article - my Apple Top 10 Podcast features an episode called Breaking Bias for anyone that would like to explore further.