[Cricket] Ollie Robinson suspended by ECB

[KeegansHairPiece]

That's not investigation into Robinson's case.

Exactly. Investigation is translated = we need some more time to establish how we get out of this **** up.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Is that really the case? If your workplace found a comment, tweet, or some such event a decade prior to your employment with them, that you would be suspended subject to a full investigation, into what, your entire life? I'm not sure that would be the case, and I expect your union (if in one) would have something to say about said suspension if the institution tried to enforce it.

I don't think he should be exonerated, but a suspension could be the end of his international career. Another bowler player could step in, he might not get picked again – that is a very real scenario, and so the punishment for him missing the next test could be life changing. That he had a great debut and may well get picked again is irrelevant, it could be this ends his test career, and to me that would be the punishment grossly out of proportion to the indiscretion.

My employer would very certainly have something to say about this.

I have said this ought to be dealt with quickly. It shouldn't rumble on for months or even weeks. My guess is the cricket authorities have suspended him because they have no proper process in place and don't know what to do.

In my case/employment posting racist tweets 10, 20, 30 years ago (going back to when I was in my 30s) would probably get me the sack. I can't see my union (yes I am a member) crawling over cushions let alone broken glass to save me, either

 

[KeegansHairPiece]

My employer would very certainly have something to say about this.

I have said this ought to be dealt with quickly. It shouldn't rumble on for months or even weeks. My guess is the cricket authorities have suspended him because they have no proper process in place and don't know what to do.

In my case/employment posting racist tweets 10, 20, 30 years ago (going back to when I was in my 30s) would probably get me the sack. I can't see my union (yes I am a member) crawling over cushions let alone broken glass to save me, either

Completely agree, and think that is more certain than just a guess.

You'd have done well to have made a tweet 20 years ago to be fair.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

You would be investigated for something you did 10 years ago ?

Unless it was a serious police matter, I hope not.

Racist tweets? Certainly! You know what I do for a living, right?

 

[Wardy's twin]

OK, I'm gonna say it; "I'm not racist, but...".

I'm not racist, but I grew up in Grimsby / Cleethorpes in the late 80s and 90s. I'm tremendously proud of where I'm from, it's an area that gets a worse rap than it deserves, but it certainly had and still has its issues.

It was, during my formative years, one of the least diverse places in England. A sizeable majority of the town's population were white British, and even now after an influx of people from Europe in the last decade or so it remains a very caucasian part of the world. As such, you are exposed to a reasonable amount of casual racism as a child, including from the likes of my parents and in particular my grandparents who, rightly or wrongly, were from a bygone era.

You weren't sent to the corner shop, there was another word for that. You didn't have a Chinese takeaway on a Saturday night, there was a shorthand phrase for that too. I don't remember specific instances, but there will have been words and phrases that I would never dream of uttering now as a more worldly and well travelled 36 year old, that I used back then. Not because I was a racist, even though the words undoubtedly were, but because they had been totally normalised in my life. I know that an apple is an apple because I was taught that. That's just what those things, those people, were called in the lexicon that I had learned.

I watched Michael Carberry's interview on SSN and I thought he made some good points. He rightly called out Oliver Downden's dismissive oversimplification of this story when he's never had to endure racism himself, as well as the clearly overly PR'd statement put out by Robinson, but I felt he let himself down when he inferred that someone capable of making those comments at 18 cannot be educated or 'rehabilitated'. That, for me, isn't entirely fair. Whilst legally an adult at that age, you are still a kid in many respects and despite how much of a free spirit I thought I was back then I was still very much the product of my environment and upbringing. Some good stuff, some bad stuff, but I'm not sure how responsible I was for either at that stage of my life.

Now, I'm aware of the danger of falling into another recurrant trope trotted out by defensive racists, but my very best friend growing up was an Indian lad. I honestly never gave much or any thought to the colour of his skin or his cultural heritage - I knew him from nursery all the way through to sixth form. It was the same for the kids at school - he was a really nice lad with the same values as the rest of us who everyone seemed to get on with. He was just Gurdeep. I don't ever remember race or religion being a factor at school, even in what was often quite a tough and toxic environment.

In the wider world though it was a bigger issue, particularly once we started drinking in pubs on a Friday or Saturday night. I'd notice very quickly that he'd be subject to everything from casual racist comments to more agressive threats for no other reason than what he looked like. I can think of a number of incidents whereby we both (along with our other mates) ended up in scraps instigated by racist pricks at least 10 years our senior (we'd have been 16 or 17 at the time). One night, after Grimsby had stayed up in the second flight after beating Louis Saha's Fulham on the final day, my mate was accused of being a Fulham fan 'in the wrong pub' because, y'know, we don't have people like that round here. Despite giving plenty of evidence to the contrary, we both ended up taking a beating of a lifetime at the hands of five or six blokes well into their thirties. It was absolutely out of order, but you begin to learn very quickly the damage that racism does.

Not long after that, I remember having a family barbecue to which I invited my mate. It was the summer of 2002, when 9/11 was still very fresh in the memory. As soon as he arrived, my brother in-law immediately went and gave him a pretend pat-down to check for weapons or explosives. Oh, the laughs that prevailed. For the record, he was of Sikh heritage, not Muslim, nor was he remotely religious. It was just a 'joke' at the expense of the colour of his skin. Despite the casual racism I'd been brought up with, I'd witnessed and experienced it from the other side. My mate expressed to me just how sick and tired he was of it all. The quips and jokes. The threats and aggression. Being a rare, Asian man in North East Lincs, in a world where Asians were becoming increasingly marginalised was clearly an exhausting experience for him.

Without a doubt, words and behaviour that might have seemed acceptable to me at 15 or 16 were viewed very differently at 18 or 19. Because, fundamentally, I had had the opportunity at that point to learn from my own experience and forge my own views and opinions. I don't know much about Ollie Robinson's upbringing, but I do believe that it's harsh to judge someone on their mindless musings a decade ago when they may well had not had the opportunity to make their own views on the world. I think that's a really important point.

I guarantee you this - my kids will never be exposed to the kind of casual racism that I was as a child. I hope they never utter a racist word in their life, which is probably unrealistic as you cannot control what they are exposed to via their peers at school, but if I ever hear it they will be quickly corrected. Growing up in Leeds in the 2020's, they're already exposed to a far more diverse environment than I was and it's noticable that they are far less aware of colour than I would have been at their age. They're also growing up in a different era where abuse is far more likely to be called out for what it is than it would have done when I was growing up. But it will take a long time for the world to become completely colour-blind, if that's even possible.

Rather than banning Ollie Robinson from cricket, and rather than him putting out generic, unfelt apologies via PR channels, I'd much rather he explained how he came to hold those views as acceptable at 18 and how, 10 years on, he came to learn that he was so profoundly wrong. We're punishing an individual for society's problem, so instead why don't we use the individual to help educate society - in particular all those 18 year old boys who look up to the likes of Ollie Robinson who might just see the world through a similar lens to how he did at their age.

excellent post.

 

[Pevenseagull]

If that's his lot for England (and I hope it isn't) his test career averages are going to be pretty impressive.

Batting ave between that of Gooch and Bell and under 15 with the ball.

 

[dangull]

Oh FFS just get a firing squad and execute him. That maybe the only fitting punishment in some people's minds.
Its 9 years ago that an 18 year old lad casually played with a keyboard maybe after a few drinks, having no idea of the possible repercussions many years from now. It certainly wouldn't have happened if if he didn't become an England test cricketer.
He has apologised, and I don't see any reason why people don't think its sincere. I have said many stupid things in the past which I have regretted, but I am glad I didn't become famous and it wasn't taped by social media police to be used to try and bring a promising young cricketer's career to an end.

 

[KeegansHairPiece]

Racist tweets? Certainly! You know what I do for a living, right?

You're the ECB's equality and disciplinary policy director?

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

You're the ECB's equality and disciplinary policy director?

Among other things I teach in a large university, well regarded for its teaching, and its diversity and inclusion

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Oh FFS just get a firing squad and execute him. That maybe the only fitting punishment in some people's minds.
Its 9 years ago that an 18 year old lad casually played with a keyboard maybe after a few drinks, having no idea of the possible repercussions many years from now. It certainly wouldn't have happened if if he didn't become an England test cricketer.
He has apologised, and I don't see any reason why people don't think its sincere. I have said many stupid things in the past which I have regretted, but I am glad I didn't become famous and it wasn't taped by social media police to be used to try and bring a promising young cricketer's career to an end.

In the past, you say?

Let's not exaggerate, now. The majority of posters on this thread seem quite happy to move on

 

[dangull]

Racial discrimination isn't always a one way street. A few years ago white farmers were driven off their land to be given to be given to the local black population under Mugabe's government in Zimbabwe .The economy took a hit from this as well.
Probably a bit late for a taking of the knee at sports grounds on this issue though.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

It would be interesting to see how many cricketers this week have a much reduced social media history.

There is a quote from Jimmy Anderson somewhere on the BBC website that the whole team / squad were getting twitchy about what they might have posted online once upon a time when they were young and foolish.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

Haven't the ECB drawn a line under this yet ?

What a nonsense dragging it out.

 

[Sid in the Sharknado]

Haven't the ECB drawn a line under this yet ?

What a nonsense dragging it out.

I can only assume you don't follow cricket very closely.

 

[clapham_gull]

Racial discrimination isn't always a one way street. A few years ago white farmers were driven off their land to be given to be given to the local black population under Mugabe's government in Zimbabwe .The economy took a hit from this as well.
Probably a bit late for a taking of the knee at sports grounds on this issue though.

 

[carlzeiss]

just for you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4dLBIzmICU

 

[clapham_gull]

just for you

And the majority I'd imagine who wouldn't draw parallels with Mugabe and making a statement about racism at a football match.

I'm sure we are that interested in your YouTube bookmarks.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

I can only assume you don't follow cricket very closely.

I don't.

I also suspect there may well have been equally worse said in the Lords Long Room over the years so none of this sorry pitch-forking seems right to me.

 

[Bry Nylon]

Haven't the ECB drawn a line under this yet ?

What a nonsense dragging it out.

It will last all summer then they'll declare it a draw using the Jack and Vera Duckworth method.

Or something

 

[BRIGHT ON Q]

In a nutshell. Simple really.