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CRICKET ROADSHOWS
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Week 4 Review - 2 Jun, Old Trafford
'There is an exclusion going on' |
Racism within cricket was the chief talking point on Saturday's C4 Roadshow, broadcast prior to the start of play at Old Trafford.
Dr Salman Sayyid, a research sociologist based in Salford who has studied race relations in cricket, told the programme that many British Asians felt disenfranchised due to a combination of factors including lack of facilities and opportunities.
He argued that might not constitute overt racism but it still had a detrimental effect on the Asian community: "Certainly it is the case that there is an exclusion going on for reasons which are not particularly related to cricket."
He added: "Most of the Asians in this area [Salford] tend to be of Muslim heritage; therefore they don't drink. Most of the economic viability of local cricket clubs is based around the bar, so the argument is presented that if we put these clubs in our leagues they will come but we won't make any money out of them but we would still have the expense of playing them."
Dr Sayyid also referred to Nasser Hussain's call for British Asians to support England rather than Pakistan, saying it was wrong to consider it a test of true loyalty. "The latest comments from the captain of England haven't helped this process, and whether knowingly or unknowingly Nasser Hussain seems to have reiterated this test of loyalty - that if you don't support England in a cricket match then somehow you are disloyal."
Later in the programme Tim Lamb, chief executive of the ECB, admitted there was still much work to do but said the whole race issue was being treated with the utmost sincerity.
"The ECB prides itself on being all-inclusive and we're absolutely determined to make sure that everyone feels they're welcome and part of the cricketing fraternity.
"We've launched a Clean Bowl Racism (achieving racial equality in the sport) programme, we've got 17 action plans along with that, we're holding forums for our county boards in order to promote racial equality and the need for that."
By means of illustration he said 12 per cent registered first-class cricketers were drawn from the ethnic minorities, as well as 10 per cent of all county age group squads.
"There are all sorts of initiatives that the ECB is undertaking," he added. "This is an area where we must make the ethnic community feel more part of the game and that's a high priority as far as the ECB is concerned."
His views were backed up by Jim Cumbes, chief executive of Lancashire CCC, who said the county was very keen to encourage greater integration. "We've got three cricket development officers who work very hard on getting into the ethnic community and we're making a lot of progress. We did a lot of that for this particularly match obviously and we aimed it as more of a home Test match for Pakistan rather than for England in order to get the Pakistanis interested."
Elsewhere on the programme Sybil Ruscoe spoke to Australian captain Steve Waugh in Gallipoli, Michael Slater took on Glenn McGrath in the virtual reality booth, Dermot Reeve joined local school children for the Jokes and Jaffas section and Usman Afzaal surprised his friend and former Notts colleague Shoaib Akhtar.
Mail the Cricket Show team at cricketshow@cricket4.com
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