England cricketer Ollie Robinson has been suspended by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) after old tweets came back to haunt him.
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England cricketer Ollie Robinson has been suspended by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). The reason? His old tweets that were racist and sexist in nature. They started doing the rounds on Twitter on the day he made his Test debut against New Zealand. It must also be noted that prior to the Test, England players took part in a ‘moment of unity’ that looked to address issues of inclusivity and discrimination.
Afterwards, Robinson said he was ’embarrased’ by the revelation of the tweets. It is also worth noting that the tweets in question are over eight years old. But the 27-year-old said he was ashamed of them regardless.
“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. 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.”
He also offered up an apology ‘to anyone he has offended’.
“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.”
England skipper Joe Root added that Robinson’s comments were ‘unacceptable’. He also added that when he read them, he could not believe what he was reading.
“He’s contributed well with the bat, his performance with the ball was excellent,” Root said. “He’s showed high levels of skill and he’s definitely got the game that can be successful in Test cricket.
“But in regards to the stuff that’s happened off the field, it’s not acceptable within our game. We all know that. He addressed the dressing room straight away. He obviously spoke to you guys and other media outlets straight away. Ollie fronted up to it and showed a lot of remorse from that point onwards. You can see it’s very genuine from how he’s been around the group and the team.
“I couldn’t believe them (the tweets), personally and I didn’t really know how to take it on the surface. I think the most important thing is Ollie is part of this dressing room and we had to support him. We had to try and do everything that we could to give him an opportunity to learn and understand he has to do better.
“I think it’s a great lesson for everyone within our game that we can all do more. We all have to keep looking to educate ourselves, trying to better the environment for everyone, trying to be as inclusive as we can, keep making everyone feel comfortable to play what a wonderful sport we have.”
Robinson will miss the second Test as the issue is now under ECB investigation.
