Image Courtesy- Hindustan Times
After England, paceman Ollie Robinson’s suspension by the England Cricket Board (ECB), two other English cricketers are also reported for a long history of racist tweets. As reported by The Telegraph UK, ECB has started its investigation into Jos Buttler & Eoin Morgan’s alleged racist tweets. Both of the English cricketers are reported to be mimicking Indian people by using the word ‘sir’ over social media.
Eoin Morgan, England’s limited-overs captain, and a World Cup-winning team captain, also holds captaincy of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in IPL. Jos Buttler, his vice-captain, also intentionally used broken English in some of the messages, reportedly to mock Indians.
Viral screenshots shared on social media include messages like “I always reply sir no1 else like me like you like me” from Jos Buttler and, “Sir, you play very good opening batting” from Eoin Morgan. However, some of these messages have been deleted after the screenshots were viral.
Buttler deleted the tweets after they were widely circulated on social media. Check out the screenshots of the posts
Although the context of these messages remains unclear, it has been taken seriously and the English board has started an investigation.
English Board statement on the investigation
ECB face questions over historic Jos Buttler and Eoin Morgan social media posts | @JWTelegraph https://t.co/tE9BGnJF6T
— Telegraph Cricket (@telecricket) June 8, 2021
On Tuesday, An ECB spokesperson said that the board will take action over the emerging issue on an “individual basis”, he stated:
“Since we were alerted to offensive tweets last week, a number of historical social media posts by other individuals have been questioned publicly as well. There is no place for discrimination in our sport and we are committed to taking relevant and appropriate action where required. Given the concerns which have been raised are clearly now broader than a single case, the ECB Board will discuss how we deal with issues over historical social media material in a timely and appropriate manner. Each case will be considered on an individual basis, looking at all the facts. We will assess cases with the ECB Board before making further statements.”
After Ollie Robinson’s suspension, and the involvement of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson over the ECB’s investigation into the Ollie Robinson case, has put immense pressure on ECB, and now board is very seriously into the issue.