Last Updated on 4 years ago by Charbel Coorey
Cricket News: Ross Taylor opens up on racism in New Zealand cricket | Ross Taylor speaks out about racism in New Zealand cricket
Ross Taylor has come out with allegations of racism in New Zealand cricket in his autobiography named ‘Black and White’. Taylor opened up on the ‘dramatic under-representation’ of the Polynesian community and even mentioned that cricket is a ‘pretty white sport’ in the country.
“Cricket in New Zealand is a pretty white sport. For much of my career I’ve been an anomaly, a brown face in a vanilla line-up. That has its challenges, many of which aren’t readily apparent to your team-mates or the cricketing public,” Taylor wrote, as reported by the New Zealand Herald.
He added, “Given that the Polynesian community is dramatically under-represented in the game, it’s probably no surprise that people sometimes assume I’m Maori or Indian.”
The details of the racism Ross Taylor experienced in his playing days
Taylor has a Samoan heritage from his mother’s side. In the book, the 38-year-old revealed that comments on ethnicity were considered to be a part of banter in the dressing room. He also explained that there was no pushback against these kinds of remarks given that a white person couldn’t relate to such situations.
“In many ways, dressing-room banter is the barometer. A team-mate used to tell me, ‘You’re half a good guy, Ross, but which half is good? You don’t know what I’m referring to.’ I was pretty sure I did. Other players also had to put up with comments that dwelt on their ethnicity,” Taylor’s words were quoted by Cricbuzz.
“In all probability, a Pakeha [white New Zealander] listening to those sorts of comments would think, ‘Oh, that’s okay, it’s just a bit of banter.’ But he’s hearing it as white person and it’s not directed at people like him. So, there’s no pushback; no one corrects them. Then the onus falls on the targets,” he further explained about the matter.
However, Taylor also dwelt considerably on the defence of developing a thick skin to let go off such incidents. He said that disclosing these details would lead to him bring accused of playing the race card. “You wonder if you should pull them up but worry that you’ll create a bigger problem or be accused of playing the race card by inflating harmless banter into racism. It’s easier to develop a thick skin and let it slide, but is that the right thing to do?” the 38-year-old wrote.
Taylor hung his boots from international cricket in April this year as New Zealand’s highest run-scorer in Tests (7683) and ODIs (8607). He played 450 international matches for the country across formats and even led the national team for a considerable time during his 16-year-long career.
A few months into his retirement, the veteran player has opened up a can of worms that will surely strike a blow to New Zealand Cricket (NZC). The NZC came out with a quick clarification reiterating that it deplores racism and staunchly supports the NZ Human Right Commission’s ‘Give Nothing To Racism’ campaign. They expressed disappointment over Taylor being subjected to such behaviour and assured that they will reach out to him for further discussions on this matter.
