FAMILY and friends know that my sporting activity is mainly confined to walking and swimming but last week, I had the gall to stray into comments referencing sport, Naomi Osaka and tennis, and here I am again. This time, it’s football and cricket.
The last football match I attended was England vs Scotland in Nice in 2019. I haven’t been to a cricket match for many years. But the linking of sport and racism is back again. Or rather, did it ever go away?
Following on from some of England’s players taking the knee and the resultant booing, a trusted friend included me in a Facebook “discussion” around “what about Scotland and us in the Euros”? I was reluctant to respond, thinking of the pelters that could follow. But hold my whesht? That would never do!
I was living and working abroad in 1968 at the time of the Olympics in Mexico and still remember the thrill of hearing and seeing Tommie Smith and John Carlos on the Podium get their medals, Gold and Silver, and raise their fists, with support from the Australian medalist Peter Norman. It was possibly the first political gesture on the world stage from an oppressed people.
All three suffered subsequently: death threats, being ostracised within sports in their home countries and from the IOC. In 2006 both Smith and Carlos were pall bearers at Norman’s funeral.
Was this action an Americanism that had no place anywhere outside of American sports? After all, what’s a few banana skins and monkey chants? Did racism wither away in society, was it removed from sport here and elsewhere?
The American footballer Colin Kaepernick didn’t think so in 2016 when took the knee during the national anthem prior to playing. He said he could not stand to show pride in the flag of a country that oppressed black people. It was his non violent, political protest.
What then of our Scotland football players, and not just at Euro time? Steve Clarke revealed he would speak with the players before taking a decision and was quoted as saying : “we’ll decide what way we’re going to do it throughout the Euros.”
I don’t deny I wanted to see the powerful acknowledgment of the existence of racism, from the players’ actions: a sign of solidarity, acknowledging the experiences of family, friends, communities here and across the world. It takes a lot to stand up to taunts, the mental anguish, the physical brutality. It helps then to you know you’re not on your own, when there’s action not just words.
When the PM merely requests that fans be “respectful”, was I surprised? No, not after his referring to letter boxes and water mellow smiles. No surprise either when another while male, Oliver Dowden MP and Culture Secretary, came forward to opine about the response of the English Cricket Board in relation to tirade from the cricketer Ollie Robinson, made years ago as a teenager. It was blithely referred to as the “historical past”. Really?
And now there is now a 2nd cricketer Craig Overton being investigated, whilst a third, Dom Bess has de-activated his Twitter account, all relating to incidents, words, “in the past”!
Spotlighting injustices is vital for change. Change won’t happen just be cause we want it and we mistakenly think we can will it to happen. We’ve had Kick Racism out of Football, No Racism Here, and more, and to what end, what change?
In the meantime then and during the Euros, I expect to boogie, and to hear more booing and when it’s over, I’ll go back to calling out for change, joining with the like minded, those who change their minds and attitude.
We can be part of the change if we so choose actions beyond words.
Selma Rahman
Edinburgh
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