The Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) has suspended Ollie Robinson from cricket for his ‘racist and sexist’ tweets posted back in 2012 and 2013. The England seamer, who made an impressive Test debut at Lord’s against New Zealand in June, has been barred for eight matches in all, five of which are suspended.
Ollie has already missed three matches; the second Test against New Zealand -- as decided by the England cricket team -- and two Vitality Blast T20 matches. This means he is free to play cricket immediately but he also is to pay a fine of £3,200 for his deeds.
In a statement, an apologetic Ollie Robinson accepted the sanctions and said that he was “incredibly embarrassed and ashamed about the tweets.”
On his Test debut, the 27-year old Ollie took seven wickets in the game and scored 42 at No. 8 to revive England from 140/6 in their first innings. Ollie Robinson’s tweets, posted when he was a teenager, began circulating soon after the start of the Lord’s Test on June 2, leading him to issue an apology after stumps on the same day.
"I want to make it clear that I'm not racist and I'm not sexist. I deeply regret my actions, and I am ashamed of making such remarks,” Robinson had said in a statement then.
Robinson’s tweets became particularly embarrassing for the England team, who had worn t-shirts at Lord’s denouncing discrimination in a ‘moment of unity’ just before the start of the Test.
Joe Root, the England captain, said that while Robinson’s performance on the field had been ‘excellent’, his tweets were not acceptable.
"He's showed high levels of skill and he's definitely got the game that can be successful in Test cricket,” Root had said.
"But in regards to the stuff that's happened off the field, it's not acceptable within our game… We can look back about how this could have been handled better, but the fact is it shouldn't have happened.”
The CDC noted that there were “a number of personal references which demonstrated that Robinson… is a very different person to the one who sent the tweets.
“It also took account of his remorse, admissions and cooperation as well as the huge impact which the revelation of these tweets and its consequences have had upon him and his family,” the CDC statement added.
What did Ollie Robinson tweet?
In a series of posts, either as a standalone tweet or as replies, it ranged from using the ‘n’ word considered to be offensive to the black community and words used to describe or insult individuals with intellectual disabilities. This is over and above the sexist and racist remarks.
They include:
“Real n***** don’t let the microwave hit 0:00”
“My new muslim friend is the bomb”
“I wonder if Asian people put smileys like this ¦) #racist”
“Females who play video games actually tend to have more sex & be happier with their relationhsips, than the girls who don’t”
“Remind me not to watch boxing with a girl again #notaclue #shesboredalready cares about tamara ecclestone eyebrows”
The tweets have since been deleted.
Photo: Adrian Dennis
