Cricket is rife with racism, says Michael Carberry
Jun 11, 2020
London [UK], June 11 : Former England batsman Michael Carberry has claimed that cricket is rife with racism and that the people running the game do not care about "black people".
His remark comes as the debate around racism in cricket keeps on growing as former West Indies skipper Darren Sammy alleged racism within the SunRisers Hyderabad camp in the 2014 Indian Premier League (IPL).
"Cricket is rife with racism. The issue you have in cricket is, the people running the game don't care about black people in it. Black people are not important to the structure of English cricket," ESPNCricinfo quoted Carberry as saying on the Cricket Badger podcast.
Carberry, who has played Test cricket for England, also said that if one looks within the England and Wales Cricket Board, they will find there are no people of colour who are making the important decisions.
"If you look around English cricket at the moment, where the important decisions are made, name one black man in those positions? You're talking the Andrew Strauss or Ashley Giles roles. Which black man has ever had the opportunity to make the big decisions on English cricket? Not one," Carberry said.
"Then scale down. Look at England head coaches. When has there been a black head coach? Never. Any black captains in county cricket? Yours truly for about six games for Leicestershire. The guy who replaced me got to do it for the whole season and lost every game," he added.
The 39-year-old Carberry also revealed that his county stint came to an early end as he called out racism within the camp.
"I have almost come close to making a coach spit 32 teeth out on the ground for stuff that he said to me. He said: 'I couldn't see you in the dark' and 'What are the brothers having tonight? Bit of fried chicken and rice and peas tonight?' I had to drag him out on the balcony. He literally hung his head like a little child. Bear in mind, I'm putting my career on the line, and it probably ended up being the final nail in my coffin in that club. I won't name the club," Carberry said.
"Why do you think I lost my career? I could have played on. But it's important I'm happy with who looks back at me. Maybe I didn't play the 50 or 100 Tests people thought I should have done. But I thought it was more important to respect the man who looks back at me in the mirror," he added.
Earlier this week, former Windies skipper Darren Sammy had said that the racial slurs were used by some of his SunRisers Hyderabad teammates during the 2014 IPL.
The all-rounder released a video, saying that he wants answers from all those people as to why they used to call him with one particular objectionable word.
Opening batsman Chris Gayle has also revealed that he too has been a victim of racism, and added that the racism is just not restricted to football as it is a part of cricket as well.
'Black Lives Matter' movement has gained steam after an African-American man named George Floyd passed away after having a knee pressed into his neck by a police officer identified as Derek Chauvin.
Ever since the demise of Floyd, protests erupted from the demonstrations in cities from San Francisco to Boston.
