Ashley Giles, Managing Director of England men’s cricket has said that those who were involved in the racism controversy at Yorkshire county cricket club should be given a second chance and that zero tolerance does not mean "cutting off people" and denying them rehabilitation.
He further warned that cricket will "have a problem" in its fight against racism if they don’t give people "second chances" after English cricket has been rocked by damaging revelations of racism from Pakistan-born former Yorkshire player Azeem Rafiq.
Rafiq made a number of allegations against high-profile figures in English cricket, including former England captain Michael Vaughan, for making hurtful racist comments. Rafiq's claims were backed by former Pakistan player Rana Naved-Ul-Hasan and England's own Adil Rashid.
Vaughan apologized to Rafiq for the "hurt" but denied using racist language as the latter claimed that the former skipper told him and other Yorkshire players of Asian origin that there were "too many of you lot" during a county match.
Following the allegations, Vaughan was removed from the BBC commentary team for the upcoming Ashes 2021-22 series in Australia, but Giles suggested that his former teammate should be given another opportunity to rehabilitate himself and carry on with his broadcasting career.
He further insisted that cricket has to do much better in tackling racism and advocated the need to give a second chance to those involved in racist incidents in the past.
Giles told The Guardian: “If zero tolerance means there is no acceptance of racism and discrimination, absolutely, that's completely right. But, for me, if zero tolerance means we cut people off, we don’t give second chances, we don’t give people a chance to rehabilitate then I think we’ve got a problem. Not giving people second chances, I’m not sure that’s a healthy way forward for us.”
He continued, “We all do make mistakes and we will again, but we have to be able to tolerate and educate and rehabilitate, otherwise people aren’t going to open up, they’re not going to share their experiences and learn. This area is such a sensitive area, a difficult one for some people to talk about, but I fear if we take that route then the gap may widen and not lessen. It's not an excuse for poor behavior, but I'm sure all of us have made mistakes at times.
We all know that this can be a bit of a minefield. Even the language we use around this area almost changes by the month. So for me, we’ve got to educate more, we’ve got to call it out in the dressing room much more effectively if we see it. It's clear we need to keep creating environments where people can keep coming forward and sharing those experiences so we can talk about these issues. To do that, we need to educate, we need to share and I also think we need to tolerate.”
Giles also backed England captain Joe Root to “do what is right” if he feels his players are being abused by fans during the Ashes 2021-22 in Australia.
Signed off by saying, “If he chose to bring the team into the middle of the field and stop the game while that was investigated, then absolutely. I don’t think any of our players should be subject to any abuse actually, but discrimination and racism particularly.”
(With Reuters Inputs)
