Recently, West Indies all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite had stated that taking a knee us not at all enough in the fight against racism.
Roland Butcher. (Photo: Twitter/@butcher_roland)
Former England batsman Roland Butcher, who was the first black cricketer to play for the national team, has stated that cricket has done very little to combat racism while football has been very playing a proactive role in this regard over the years.
Notably, the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement has been going on after the death of African-American George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police personnel in the US in May.
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Recently, West Indies all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite had stated that taking a knee us not at all enough in the fight against racism as according to him, a change in mindset is needed across the world.
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“I must say football is a lot better now than it used to be. Football has done a lot to clean up its act,” Barbados-born Butcher told Times of India in an interview.
“They have been very proactive. For a number of years, cricket has not been. I think cricket has sat silently back and really said nothing. I think generally, it is less tolerated in football than it is in cricket,” added the 66-year old who has played three Tests and three ODIs for England.
When asked if ever experienced racism, the former cricketer who played for Middlesex stated, “People never abused me directly. I’m not saying that there wasn’t any racism. Obviously, people may have said things that you didn’t hear etc. etc.”
“I did not encounter the sort of racism that some other people did. I know some other people were really abused and caught all sorts of things.”
“It is difficult, but as I say if the clubs can really set the agenda and have a policy of not tolerating any form of racism. They have to show the way,” he added.
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