Haverhill Ladies batswoman Mya Brockley has spoken out about racism within cricket amongst the latest revelations regarding the issues that taint the sport.
Speaking before the away match against Saffron Walden on Saturday, the 20-year-old recalled how racist abuse aimed towards her by an opposing supporter still affects her today.
“At first, I didn’t know how to respond, as it was the first time that I’d been a victim of racist abuse.
“Sometimes it’s not so obvious to identify I’m mixed race, my mum is Indian but my dad is English so the colour of my skin is only slightly tanned.
"I had always assumed, perhaps naively, this was the reason why I’d never succumbed to racial abuse.
“I’d only just turned 18 at the time and maybe I had been lucky to escape racism for so long but the experience was a very sobering feeling.”
Shortly after receiving the abuse, Brockley followed procedures by reporting the issue to captain Alice Fowler, who immediately informed the umpire.
Both team captains agreed to walk their respective teams off the pitch and a decision was made to abandon the match.
Brockley described the experience as a “very sobering feeling.”
The young cricketer said: “Everyone involved handled the situation professionally and I can’t fault the decision to call the match off.
“Although I felt a little embarrassed at being the centre of attention, it was the right call to walk off, as the abuse left me feeling bewildered and discombobulated, impossible to focus on the cricket.”
The incident was reported to the police and an investigation took place, resulting in the culprit receiving a large fine and a lifetime ban from attending all future cricket matches.
English cricket has recently been under the spotlight surrounding issues with racism, with ex-cricketer Azeem Rafiq believing his former club, Yorkshire, to be institutionally racist.
Speaking to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, the British Asian said: “Pretty early on, me and other people from an Asian background, there were comments such as, ‘You’ll sit over there near the toilets’ and ‘Elephant washers’.
“There just seemed to be an acceptance in the institution from the leaders and no one ever stamped it out.”
In response to this there have been high-profile names stepping down from their roles, most notably Sky Sports commentator David Lloyd, who was reported to have attempted to downplay Rafiq’s comments.
The 30-year-old ex-cricketer said: “High-profile media people messaging other members of the media who supported me saying stuff like ‘the club houses are the life blood of a club and Asian players don’t go in there’, ‘getting subs out of Asian players is like getting blood out of stone’.
“That was David Lloyd, he’s been an England coach, commentator, and I found it disturbing because Sky are supposedly doing this amazing work on bringing racism to the front and within a week of me speaking out that’s what I got sent to me.
"I thought, ‘Gosh, there’s some closet racists and we need to do something about it’.”
Following the allegations, the commentator, known to many in the cricketing world as ‘Bumble’, apologised to Rafiq before announcing his retirement from Sky Sports after a 22-year-career with the company.
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