After racist and sexist tweets from fast bowler Ollie Robinson were discovered during his Test debut against New Zealand, the England and Wales Cricket Board now face a tough call on how they sanction him.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this for the ECB. After an enduringly tough winter, Wednesday was the new dawn.
For the first time since the 2019 Ashes, crowds were allowed to watch Test cricket in the flesh. The sun was beating down on a picturesque Lord’s, and a mammoth seven-Test summer was officially underway.
By the end of the day, however, the game’s governing body were left angry, frustrated and now, in a decidedly tough position.
Robinson, who excelled with the ball on his first day of international cricket, would walk off the ground into an oncoming storm.
Just as he was taking the wickets of Tom Latham and Ross Taylor, tweets dating back to 2012 and 2013 surfaced online and revealed a series of racist and sexist comments. Robinson was 18 and 19 when he sent the tweets, and he made an unreserved apology immediately after play.
But the timing could not have been worse.
Earlier in the day, England players had made a public stance for unity and worn t-shirts denouncing the very discriminatory tweets Robinson had made.
“We stand together against racism”, some of the t-shirts stated.
“We stand together against sexism”, others read.
That wasn’t lost on anyone.
“If you are going to wear T-shirts about online hate and online abuse and sexism and racism, then you can’t be doing this. It’s just not good enough, it’s just not on,” former England skipper Nasser Hussain said on Sky Cricket post-play.
ECB chief Tom Harrison’s anger was palpable even through a written statement.
“I do not have the words to express how disappointed I am that an England Men’s player has chosen to write tweets of this nature, however long ago that might have been,” he said. “Any person reading those words, particularly a woman or person of colour, would take away an image of cricket and cricketers that is completely unacceptable. We are better than this.”
Not only has Robinson let himself down but at a wider level, undone work the ECB is trying to do in this space.
A “full investigation” is now underway.
Harrison has said they have a “zero-tolerance stance to any form of discrimination”.
So how exactly do the ECB punish Robinson for something he did eight or nine years ago?
Robinson’s age (when he sent the tweets) and the length of time since it happened will likely come into their decision-making.
Ollie Robinson is under fire for offensive tweets. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
But to what extent?
Interestingly, the 27-year-old’s county, Sussex, said his age “did not excuse the content of these tweets in any way”.
Hussain weighed up the difficultly of the situation.
“I think we are probably a bit of a cruel society if we don’t realise that an 18-year-old does make mistakes and he has made mistakes and he’s made it horribly wrong and he’s fronted up,” he said.
“(But) it does not make it right in any way; I’ve read the tweets, I’ve seen the tweets, they are horrible, they are not right and you should never say those things whether you are 18 or 28.”
Early in his career Robinson played under Jason Gillespie at Yorkshire but was let go in 2014 due to “unprofessional” conduct.
They later reunited at Sussex, where the Aussie quick coached until the end of last season.
“Back at Yorkshire, there were some issues with professionalism. It was a timing thing, really. If he was there now he’d be flying,” Gillespie told The Guardian in April.
“But back then he was a young bloke away from where he grew up and maybe a touch naive. When we crossed paths again at Sussex he was a very different individual and, hand on heart, I can say it has been a privilege to see how he had matured and turned himself into a Test-quality bowler.”
The situation raises an interesting hypothetical: had the ECB found these tweets before his debut (due diligence some have argued should have occurred anyway) how would they have handled it? We’ll never know, but what’s clear now is that they need to act.
The sensitivities around these issues have rightly heightened in recent times.
The ECB’s sanction will be equated — unfairly or otherwise — to how serious they take the issue, something that perhaps doesn’t bode well for Robinson.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
In Sydney on a clear day you can see the smog.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
https://youtu.be/N3RQvEUayzQ
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Fawad's case was a bit of a joke, definitely. with CA pushing for his application to be fast tracked so he could play for Australia and then he barely ever does, was a bit of a joke. But as a more general rule, refugee sportspeople representing their adopted country I think is totally good. If they really had to leave their home country out of fear for their life, then they can't exactly represent them. So that's a case where I think it's totally legit to move to representing your new country. In Fawad's case it was really CA and the Australian government jumping through hoops to get him fast tracked simply because he could bowl legspin that's the issue, can't blame Fawad himself for that.
Timnaik O'Shaughnessy
Roar Rookie
I think the apology was enough. Let's move on. No need to ruin a young man's international career because of some silly tweets he made as a teenager.
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
I'll bow to your superior knowledge of South Africa but I stand by the other thing I said.
Greco Dominicus
Roar Rookie
If you think Kevin Pietersen sounds more English than South African you dont know much about South Africa. Just like not all Englishmen have a Cockney accent not all South Africans have a thick Afrikaans accent
Greco Dominicus
Roar Rookie
Not bring racist online is not saintly.
Greco Dominicus
Roar Rookie
It is really interesting how many people are willing to say racism expressed so overtly online is okay. Oh yes I know it was long ago so it's not an issue. The number 1 thing I have learnt this week is that to a lot of people "racism and prejudice is just considered to be not that bad and really it's about time minorities and women just get over themselves" Can't wait to hear predictable jibes about chips on shoulders
Paul
Roar Guru
Sorry, but I can draw at least one other inference from his comments. He's made no admission of any kind he still has issues. All he's said is he will continue to learn. I'd suggest this same advice could apply to each and every one of us, including those who have decided to cast judgement on him. I wonder when was the last time Hussein and the rest of the commentators did any form of learning about the impact of racist/sexist social media messages? My money would be on, not for a long while.
Marco
Guest
That’s incorrect Paul. Read part of his statement below and the only inference you can make is that he still has issues which is very disappointing . "I will continue to educate myself, look for advice and work with the support network that is available to me to learn more about getting better in this area."
Micko
Roar Rookie
My Kurdish neighbour had a beer with me at my BBQ once. :stoked:
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
For a lot of Muslims, accepting money from an alcohol company would be just as wrong as wearing the brand name so you can certainly count on that. Anything less would be considered completely hypocritical from an Islamic perspective not being a hypocrite in any way is extremely important to Muslims properly practising Islam. Many would not take a job in a bar or bottleshop for example.
Micko
Roar Rookie
As long as they accepted a suitable deduction of their pay that the lucrative sponsorship would provide.
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
Yep. As a very young fella in the 1990s prior to the internet being released to the public domain I was still telling offensive anti Aboriginal jokes based on complete ignorance, much as it shames me to remember.
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
Much like Cricket Australia slapping the excessive double punishment on Smith and co after ICC had already meted out their own bans according to their own statutes. I think we’re gonna see a lot more of this kind of thing in the future.
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
You have a point about being fast tracked Micko and he wasn't that good a bowler anyway. However, he was well within his rights to not accept any sponsorship that went contrary to his beliefs. Hashim Amla did the same.
Once Upon a Time on the Roar
Roar Guru
Kevin Pietersen had one saffie parent the other English so he was entitled to identity as either, irrespective of where he spent the majority of his life prior to his international debut. He certainly sounded far more pommie than saffie.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Fawad Ahmed was a joke from the start I could never get behind. Firstly with his application being fast-tracked, thus jumping the “refugee” migrant queue because (a bizarrely desperate) CA found out he was a good leggie, and (seemingly) pulled some strings with the federal government. Then the hilarious refusal to wear VB sponsored official Australian attire (which ironically VB probably enjoyed), which was just the icing on the cake in one of a number of bizarre episodes with CA’s administration of the sport over the past decade or so.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Yes, I've always found that sportspeople who simply came to Australia as an adult for better opportunities in their sport are always harder to cheer for as an Australian, but people who came here for completely non-sporting reasons, like they moved here as a kid and their sporting development was done here, they are as Australian as anyone as far as I'm concerned. So with respect of other countries, the likes of Archer, Wagner, Conway, Pietersen rub me a bit wrong, but no issue with the likes of Stokes, Wattling, Khawaja, Labushagne.
JGK
Roar Guru
Seems like he's been officially suspended pending an investigation. Terrible leadership by the ECB.