The fifth Test between England and India has made headlines this time for reasons other than cricket. A section of Indian cricket fans were racially abused towards the end of Day 4 of the ongoing Test match at Edgbaston. A number of allegations were made on social media on Monday evening following the close of play. An investigation is underway into allegations of racist abuse among the crowd. Meanwhile, the English man doing racial gestures has come out on Twitter, and some England and Indian fans have tweeted his picture.
The allegations were highlighted by Yorkshire cricketer Azeem Rafiq, who said it was “disappointing to read”. He highlighted several of the allegations via retweets on his Twitter account. It was his testimony in front of a parliamentary select committee last year that sparked an investigation into his claims of institutional racism at Yorkshire club.
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Indian fans called ‘smelly p****’, ‘curry c***’ at Edgbaston
One of the Tweets that Rafiq retweeted read:
“Racist behaviour at @Edgbaston towards Indian fans in block 22 Eric Hollies. People calling us Curry C**ts and paki bas****s. We reported it to the stewards and showed them the culprits at least 10 times but no response and all we were told is to sit in our seats. @ECB_cricket”
A reply from the official Edgbaston Twitter account in response to Rafiq said:
“There is no place for racism in cricket.”
The England and Wales Cricket Board said it was “very concerned” at the reports and reiterated its stance on racism.
“We are very concerned to hear reports of racist abuse at today’s Test match. We are in contact with colleagues at Edgbaston, who will investigate,”
READ AN ECB STATEMENT.
