Lord Botham and discrimination in cricket

Reactions to the report of the Independent Commission for Integrity in Cricket commissioned by the England and Wales Cricket Board (“Holding a Mirror to Cricket”) continue to be felt months after its publication in mid-2023. It's getting a lot of attention.

The report, based on evidence from thousands of cricketers, many of whom claim to have experienced discrimination during their playing days, found that there was a “culture of elitism and exclusion” in English cricket. found much evidence of. Racism and other forms of discrimination were detailed. Following the report, the ECB CEO apologized for his crimes regarding the treatment of cricketers, but some people reject its conclusions.

One particularly outspoken critic is legendary England all-rounder Ian Botham, now Baron Botham of Ravensworth, North Yorkshire. Lord Botham, who currently sits in the House of Lords, is a staunch conservative, a monarchist who has long opposed caricatures of the late Queen Elizabeth II, and a strong supporter of Brexit. , a person who loves the English countryside and countryside. These “values” are embodied in things like fox hunting and hunting.he wrote this telegraph paper A “Soviet-style bureaucracy” is destroying Britain's countryside, he says, and environmentalists are “smug narcissists”.

Botham is also a tireless charity fundraiser, particularly in the spotlight for research into childhood leukemia.

His views on the ICEC report are uncompromising. “It's nonsense” and a “complete and utter waste of money,” he said. He said he read the report “a little bit” before “throwing it on the floor.”

In this way, the evidence collected over several years and the conclusions drawn from it (and accepted by the commissioning organization) were summarily dismissed. For Botham, discrimination based on race, gender or class in cricket is of little concern.

But in English sport (and indeed Australian sport), racist abuse is particularly common. This voice is heard on the field and on the sidelines, not only in children's sports, but also at the professional elite level. Some individuals from minority groups face barriers to advancement, or a lack of encouragement. It is difficult to deny that discrimination exists in many forms, often subtle, and yet denial is frequent.

Discrimination is a difficult issue, especially when a lawsuit is brought that it is perhaps the product of racial discrimination. In Australia, John Howard has long expressed the view that Australia is not a racist country, but there are many and frequently reported instances of racism in sport and society at large. In the case of Adam Goodes a few years ago, some argued that the loud booing Goodes received towards the end of his career was simply a reaction to him being a “bad guy” who played up his Aboriginality in a way that seemed inappropriate. There were too. It had nothing to do with Aboriginal people per se, they said.

Racism is a feature of the human condition and exists in all racially diverse societies. It happens in sports, at work, on public transportation, and anywhere people of different races gather.

In Australia, fear of Asian immigrants led to the White Australia Policy, enshrined in Commonwealth law for more than half a century. At times, sports were used as a platform to break down class prejudices. An example of this was in the 1960s when Stuart Babbage, then Dean of the Anglican Church of Melbourne, said that West Indies cricketers “may play with us, but they may not stay with us”. It is. This was a decisive indictment of White Australia policy.

It is very easy to simply argue against something you instinctively disagree with without careful analysis. We all do it from time to time. Mr Botham did not take part in any discussion of the ICEC report's conclusions, and Mr Howard did not address the fundamental question of the existence of racism in Australian society. Both men simply state their views as axioms and do not present arguments to support them.

These days, many people believe that “awakening,'' rather than discrimination and efforts to eliminate or overcome it, is the real problem. Denial and pretense have the effect of marginalizing the issue, making it more difficult to combat it in sports and other areas.