Zimbabwe...another perspective

[Publius Ovidius]

My take on this is somewhat different to the norm.

As you know I lived out in South Africa in the bad old days ( late 60's )

Now at that time, they had a government that was committed to Apartheit which the rest of the world thought abhorent. Now because SA was strategically important and also not a communist county, when all other african countries were heading that way, the west, had a vested interest that SA remained white. But to show willing, they organised a Sporting Ban on the country. However,if you recall, the Cricket Board moaned like f*** that this was politics and not sport and the cricketers should be allowed to go...culminating in a couple of "rebel tours" which although the authorities feigned outrage at the time, Tom Graveney, now Chair of the ECB, actually led a rebel tour.

Ok now we have the cricketers, being "forced" to play in Zimbabwe and they are bitching that they shouldn't go because of the political situation, ie they dont like Mugabe and the majority of players from the old Zimbabwe team were dismissed for not toeing the party line. ie Politics.

It screams of hypocracy this does and I for one have no sympathy with the Cricket Board over this at all. You make your bed and you must lie in it

 

[The Clown of Pevensey Bay]

I don't blame the ECB over this one at all. But both the ICC and the Foreign Office should be telling England not to play in Zimbabwe, and neither of them is doing so.

BTW it was David Graveney, Dave.

 

[Jim D]

Of course it's hypocrisy, but anyone that says politics is separate from sport is being hypocritical too. What this is all about (the same as it was 30 years ago) is money. Then we had the chance to make loads (those on the rebel tour all did very well for themselves) and now we don't want to be fined. Why don't the ECB just come out and admit it:

'None of us, players or management, really want to be here but we don't want to be fined or kicked out of world cricket either. In the end we decided that the money (and the opportunity to keep filling our boots on long winter tours) was more important.'

Robert Mugabe is the only one to have gained from this. He's run us round in circles from the beginning, got everything he wanted and made us look completely gutless - which we are.

 

[Publius Ovidius]

absolutely

 

[CHAPPERS]

Are you suggesting we are MOANING because Mugabe is BLACk, Dave?

 

[Publius Ovidius]

read into it what you want

 

[CHAPPERS]

It seems to me that you are saying that the only reason why we are there is that not going could be seen as RACIALIST in the current political climate?

 

[Lord Bracknell]

The racism in this decision arises from the fact that the English cricket establishment will always listen to the likes of Hooray Henry and will always ignore people like Henry Olonga.

 

[oldham gull]

Too right. We have been listening to the wrong kind of henry for too long.

 

[readingstockport]

There is a slight difference between the two situations. For better or worse the SA situation was backed up by UN Sanctions and the sporting boycott was an official UN one. Sadly, due to lilly livered, two-faced tossers like Mbeke and Njoma there are no UN sanctions against the syphillitic one and his regime in Zimbabwe.

If there were then the ECB could have refused to tour, sadly there aren't

However, I do fly to SA on 8th Dec, just in time for the second game

 

[Willow]

What gets me is every other member country of the ICC can tour Zimbabwe quite happily, and nobody bats an eyelid. When it's England's turn to tour, the press kick it all off and it turns into a major scandal?

 

[fatbadger]

The hypocrisy I can't get my head around is the one that seems to have no issue with cricket teams touring Pakistan, despite that fact it is a military dictatorship which allows no freedom of speech and in which repression and political murder are much more vicious and common than in Zimbabwe, or no problem with touring India while it has had a racist Hindu Nationalist party in charge which promotes and defends ethnic cleansing, again on a greater level than that which has been experienced in Zimbabwe.

Can anybody tell me why Mugabe is worse than this lot?