Tariq Ali's views on 'racism' in English cricket are worth reading

Photo by Kon Karampelas on Unsplash

Tariq Ali, british novelist and activist, writes about racism in Yorkshire county cricket as follows in the London Review of Books (paywall): “County cricket welcomes white Rhodesians and South Africans with open arms, while tormenting British Asians and blacks.”

He goes on: “It took [Azeem] Rafiq, and other players of Asian and Caribbean heritage, some time to understand the extent to which racism was embedded in the consciousness of some of their white fellow players. The old colonial mentality was alive and well in English cricket. Some had assumed that a love for cricket might transcend all prejudices. This was, alas, not the case, as they had to learn the hard way. The word must have spread. Since 2015, the number of British Asian kids learning cricket has declined by 40 per cent and Rafiq has said he would not encourage his son to play.”

That’s a pretty brutal assessment but some would say it’s a pretty brutal situation.

Is it?

As an Indian of Brit…