Those in glass houses....n/g | Vital Football

Those in glass houses....n/g

madrid_gill said:
I see another cricketer, Jack Brooks, has had to apologise for calling Cheteshwar Pujara "Steve".

Does that mean that many Gills fans now owe Nyron Nosworthy an apology for calling him Dave?
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Alex Hales has a dog called Kevin. That is racist too
 
GillsBluenose said:
Azeem Rafiq apologises for historical anti-Semitic messages - BBC Sport

Hopefully, there will be a full enquiry about this where someone from the Jewish community can be "brave" enough to accuse this guy and all his mates of everything under the sun, without him being given the opportunity to sue them for slander.

I should think a certain Mr Vaughan will be having a smile to himself
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If Azeem was part of an anti semitic system whereby he kept young jews down in the entire system, made them feel sub human, and abused them when their wives had stillborn babies, then yes, maybe there should be.

However as you know, that's not the case, and this is not even remotely comparable.
 
I saw his testimony and was quite moved - especially the stuff about his still born child and being suicidal. It's clear that there was a cultural issue at Yorkshire and Yorkshire have chronically failed in their procedures for investigating his claims. Where have we seen that before?

However, I personally thought the panel gave him a pretty easy ride. Whilst he was rightly treated with sympathy, he has made some very serious allegations - some specific, some non-specific - against individuals often without evidence. Of course, with alleged verbal racist and/or bullying abuse, it may be difficult to find and present evidence, which is precisely why forensic questioning and challenge was required to draw out the substance behind the claims and potentially acquire avenues to follow-up and verify the claims (including questioning others). The allegations have huge implications for those individuals cited and whilst the panel shouldn't disbelieve him, they should have remembered that what he was saying were allegations as it came across that they automatically believed everything he said.

Further, the press and media seem to have taken a similar line - and not just the left wing press - with his allegations presented as fact in a lot of quarters and some of those named already presented as guilty without their side of the story or response to the allegations being heard. Gary Ballance, for example, has been portrayed as a bully, racist etc etc (and this may or may not be true), but Ballance has suggested that the name-calling with Rafiq was two-way and this historic Tweet gives some credence to that and also generally raises some questions about the truthfulness of his testimony and the decision of the panel and press/media to automatically believe him.

Personally, I am not concerned about silly Tweets from 10 years ago, whether its Olly Robinson, Rafiq or the Somerset player cited today (for calling someone "Steve"), but I am concerned when someone has gone on the front foot and made allegations against people when he himself has a chequered past on the same front.
 
madrid_gill said:
I see another cricketer, Jack Brooks, has had to apologise for calling Cheteshwar Pujara "Steve".

Does that mean that many Gills fans now owe Nyron Nosworthy an apology for calling him Dave?
Click to expand...

I thought exactly the same thing when I read that. And were he not dead, would the woke police be coming for Trigger and his broom?
 
I played cricket at a decent standard in a club where we had a few Minor counties players, a couple of ex county pros - even one Aussie former test cricketer and another who went on to become a test opener and Wisden award winner.
If the level of their dressing room 'banter' was a true reflection of the highest levels of the game then I can readily accept what Rafiq is saying.
Now, these were not 'bad' people per se, but there was simply an accepted and generally derogatory undercurrent about players of colour, in particular the Asian communities.
In addition the Aussies were almost entirely derogatory about their own indigenous population.
To be clear, any point of difference would be used as a 'weapon' in dressing room
banter. So if you were short, tall, had a northern accent, ginger hair, receding hairline, overweight it would get used as a basis for targeting you. It wasn't meant to be malicious but also it didn't form part of a more general pattern of discrimination in your life and your career.
Most people just went along with it, pretty much in a state of unawareness. One or two were genuinely racist and bigoted in many other ways.
Hopefully there is recognition now that what passed for humour wasn't funny for those on the receiving end.
 
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