England’s Ollie Robinson should have been basking in glory for his impressive Test debut against New Zealand at Lord’s on Wednesday (June 2). But the pacer’s past came back to haunt him as his tweets as a teenager from 2012-14 surfaced on social media.
After stumps on Day 1 at Lord’s, Robinson, who returned with the figures of 2/50, was left to ‘unreservedly apologise’ for his racist and sexist posts from years ago.
See Also: Cricket fraternity rejoices as Devon Conway hits a century on Test debut at Lord’s
"On the biggest day of my career so far, I am embarrassed by the racist and sexist tweets that I posted over eight years ago, which have today become public," Robinson said in a statement. "I want to make it clear that I'm not racist and I'm not sexist.
"I deeply regret my actions, and I am ashamed of making such remarks. I would like to unreservedly apologise to anyone I have offended, my teammates and the game as a whole in what has been a day of action and awareness in combatting discrimination from our sport. I just want to apologize to everyone. I regret it hugely."
Following the development, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) released a statement, reiterating its zero-tolerance stance against discrimination and also promising to investigate the matter
"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," Tom Harrison, ECB Chief Executive Officer, 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. We have a zero-tolerance stance to any form of discrimination and there are rules in place that handle conduct of this nature. We will initiate a full investigation as part of our disciplinary process.
"Our England Men's Team, alongside others from the ECB and our partners across the game, worked together today to create a moment of unity. Using today's spotlight to reaffirm our commitment to driving forward an anti-discrimination agenda. Our commitment to that effort remains unwavering, and the emergence of these comments from Ollie's past reiterates the need for ongoing education and engagement on this issue."
