Racism exists in sports, there’s no denying that. While often football matches have seen the players being targeted with monkey chants or looked down upon on the basis of their colour, retired Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan has now spoken about racism in domestic cricket in the country. The entire subject of racism gained momentum after the death of George Floyd in the USA and now so many are sharing their experiences.
Speaking to ANI on Tuesday, Irfan revealed how he came across racial taunts being made towards Indians from the Southern region, especially in the Northern and Western parts of India.
“I have seen that in domestic cricket, some of our brothers who come from South India, when they come to play domestic matches in North or West India, they do sometimes get taunts, generally in first-class matches, you see a smaller crowd and when there is a smaller crowd, there is always one guy who is trying to be a joker, who is trying to be famous, he will just want to direct jibes at players and as a result, he crosses the line,” Pathan told the news agency.
Speaking of the corrective measures that should be taken to fix this problem in society, Pathan called for the need to educate everyone about this issue, especially at a young age.
“I believe in the society we need to educate everyone, elders and family should teach what is right to say and what’s not, we need to value faith and beliefs of others, we can do better by education kids of our generation,” he added.
