Gary Ballance Statement

[Kriterion_BD]

Sydney morning Herald and Daily telegraph.
i actually once posted some screenshot headlines to prove it.

Well surprising, but once something is deemed to be offensive, the reasonable thing to do is to accept it, apologize for any infraction, and eschew that particular thing in the future. All I can really say on the topic.

[TapsC2]

They have admitted handing Ballance a new contract after their internal investigation was complete. This is going to get really ugly. The whole club is in trouble.

[sam_ahm]

I was once a part of another cricket forum which is no longer active now. There an Indian poster was referring to Pakistani posters by that word, he never knew it was offensive. Almost immediately other posters pointed out that this is not acceptable as it is considered a racist word in esp in England and Europe.

The lad in question immediately apologised and admitted that he was not aware.

I think in England everyone knows that this is a racist word. Hard to believe Ballance wasn't aware.

[Googly]

I think you're focusing too much on Ballance. He was mentioned at the outset, but as this unravels his name will be one of many, but it's likely he's going to be hung out to dry. The whole Zimbo P.aki thing Ballance never hid behind, someone else brought that up, but it's been laid on Ballance's doorstep.
Its their entire administrative structure that's under fire. The chairman, who was trying to make changes, resigned and they reinstalled a former chairman that was at the helm during this period, that was a poorly thought out move and is going to bite them. I saw a Lord Patel being thrown into the mix there. That's a lame attempt to be sure

There's no danger Ballance was the only one involved. Whilst the EBC are going to assist in the investigation they're going to be wondering how to keep the current England players out of the line of fire. If it was a racist culture at the club its an unconvincing argument that the England players had no involvement for the last 12 years.

I've got a problem with Rafiq staying at the Ballance home in Zim, inviting him to his wedding, also being good friends with GB's brother, going out and partying with him and then dropping him in the shit years later, that's a guy with a poor moral compass right there. All he had to do at any stage was to grow a spine, stand his ground with the players and say "guys, enough of the P.aki stuff, please stop pissing on my head and stop using my prayer matt" and I'm fairly sure he'd have made a lot of headway. Had there been no progress he should have made his complaints back then and he also had the option to leave. If an environment is that toxic that you contemplate suicide regularly and cry yourself to sleep and yet you have numerous options and you know change is not coming anytime soon then there's something wrong with you. He'd have been snapped up by many other counties. Would he now say "but they were all the same."

Viv Richards had a banana thrown at him when he was playing county. He could probably get some TV footage of the incident and identify the guy and cancel him. Would he even bother?
Ten years back the onfield sledging was outrageous. Many teams spoke in their own languages and said downright unacceptable stuff about the opposition continuously. Will some moron start dragging all that crap up, few will escape that one.
He's timed his assault perfectly when the cancel culture is at its most powerful. If he's guiltless in all of this I'll kiss my arse.
Also saying he felt he needed to drink and party with the white chicks to be accepted is laughable, what a weasel. Allah knows!!!

I'm not condoning what happened to him, but its happened to many people of all creeds, colours and religions. Every sportsman from every discipline should come forward and kiss and tell. There would be hundreds of thousands. Its going to get awkward when there's a whole bunch of white folk in that lot, that's not going to fit the narrative at all.

I'm a proponent of drawing a line in the sand and saying "from this day forward no more problems"
If you're going to dredge up shit from years ago I can tell you with certainty that there are not many people who are completely guiltless. What was "acceptable" years ago is no longer so and everyone but the dumbest are acutely aware of that and we play sport in a much better environment. IPL has done a lot to improve relations in cricket as well, yet there are people who are going to try and wring every last drop out of this and I question their motives.

[Googly]

Which black or white cricketer would have even bothered going to Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka to play a domestic season? Why? Because they probably wouldn't have got a gig, would have had a thoroughly crap time of it and just would not have fitted in and would have been cussed properly, to their faces and behind their backs.
These T20 tournaments have gone a long way in changing people's perceptions, it's been a great thing.
Yet players of all persuasions flock to English County cricket and get selected and get games and remuneration and then complain bitterly that the English are racist.
For sure many are, but probably less so than the countries from which they hailed and where their cricket is so poorly run and administered that they have to fuck off to greener pastures to improve their game. There's a poor double standard here.

[Tinah09]

Which black or white cricketer would have even bothered going to Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka to play a domestic season? Why? Because they probably wouldn't have got a gig, would have had a thoroughly crap time of it and just would not have fitted in and would have been cussed properly, to their faces and behind their backs.
These T20 tournaments have gone a long way in changing people's perceptions, it's been a great thing.
Yet players of all persuasions flock to English County cricket and get selected and get games and remuneration and then complain bitterly that the English are racist.
For sure many are, but probably less so than the countries from which they hailed. There's a poor double standard here.

Theres no excuse for racism. We are over 5 years into IPL, All these white, west indian players spend a good 2-3 months a year in India, yet how many incidents of all those white players being subjected to racist abuse in India?

[Tinah09]

International cricketers plying their trade in England are professional players with contracts and valid work permits, they are brought to add value and experience to the county scene. The counties are not doing them favours, its quid pro quo, they shouldn't be expected to endure racism in silence

[slcricfan1]

Yeah Azeem seems to have done it with petty intent but it shouldnt still have a place in the game notwithstanding Azeems` own intentions

[Kallum]

In typical British press style, allegations where made with the homegrown Michael Vaughan (which seem pretty baseline in all honesty, and which he completely denies) but that story has died a death before it even became a thing, likely because he is the great english captain and no one wants his name to be drawn through the mud unlike Ballance who most see as foreign still.

[Googly]

I follow Vaughn on twitter, he has a lot to say and some of it is not too well thought out. He gets cussed 24/7.