By acting respectfully towards women, your own body, around issues of racism, homophobia, sexist language, it’s unlikely that a fate like England pacer Ollie Robinson, who was suspended for racist text, will be your destiny
England’s Ollie Robinson. Pic/Getty Images
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Ollie Robinson. Remember the name. His story will be used as a textbook case study for educators like me who work with up-and-coming elite athletes who aspire to great things.
His rapid fall from grace is the sort of lesson that will now transcend the previous examples of Tiger Woods, David Warner, Hansie Cronje, Ben Johnson...the list goes on. I can't speak for what happens in Indian sport but in Australia, the behaviour of elite sportsmen (note, men not women) has got to the point where it almost doesn't rate a mention in the news. The football codes lead the way with cricket sitting quietly in the slipstream, hoping that their dirty linen does not get aired in public like Robinson's.
I have spent close to 20 years running educational programs for young athletes from a variety of sports. The curriculum covers everything from drug and alcohol abuse, respect for women, sexual consent, media skills, mental health and of course the ubiquitous social media dragon. In some senses, it all boils down to the matter of respect, a core quality that often appears to elude high-profile people in Australia, politicians, sportspeople and celebrities alike. Perhaps this is also the case in India.
If respect can become the foundation of a young athlete’s moral code, almost everything else will look after itself. If you act respectfully in your treatment of women, your own body, around issues of racism, homophobia and sexist language, it is unlikely that a fate like Robinson's will be your destiny. I once had a senior cricket official who engaged me to run a series of workshops on trying to get young cricketers to be more respectful around the Inclusion agenda but he wanted the conversation to focus solely on racist and homophobic sledging. I insisted that it be broadened to include respect in all forms because if you practise respect in every part of your life, the chances of being caught out are virtually nil.
It’s not that different from the current Covid situation. Imagine trying to create a sterile hospital ward where the only germs that are being targeted is the Covid bug. Unless the ward is sterile and hygienic in an overall sense, it is almost impossible to only target one specific type of germ. It's either sterile or it isn't. You can’t be half pregnant! Hence my insistence that this education program should target all forms of respectful behaviour which would naturally then eliminate cases of racist and homophobic abuse.
This is exactly why I was not remotely surprised when Jimmy Anderson has now been mentioned as another player to have his past catch up with him. His track record when it comes to respectful behaviour has never been his strongest suit. Like Warner and others who have a long history of being disrespectful to opponents, umpires, fans, media...discovering that he used Twitter inappropriately is no great surprise. It would be more of a surprise if it wasn't the case!
Social media was the new kid on the block. It was always going to be the next big thing when it came to detonating careers. Australia boasts a chequered history of high profile athletes mis-using social media and blowing up careers. The examples are too numerous to mention but two cases are worth highlighting to make the point, both of them rugby league players. One of them was photographed simulating a sex act with a dog and the other chap was snapped whilst dipping his private parts in a glass of beer. I must stress the distinction between rugby and rugby league here. It's like comparing thoroughbred racing to greyhounds. There is an old joke in Australia that soccer is a gentleman's game played by hooligans, rugby is a hooligan's game played by gentlemen and rugby league is a hooligan's game played by hooligans. Never a truer word spoken!
And so we move our attention to Robinson, Anderson and any more revelations that may follow. I don't buy the excuse that these were all historical transgressions that no longer reflect the current person. Leopards...spots...in all my time working with elite athletes, I haven’t seen too many cases of genuine attitude shifts. They may regret being caught but I suspect their remorse is largely retrospective.
I must confess to some scepticism of Robinson’s media statements about him not being racist, sexist etc. Unless someone else hijacked his Twitter account, it sure sounds like it was racist and sexist and goodness knows what else. In my spare time, I am also a wildlife guide in Africa and I have always believed that if it looks like a hyena and laughs like a hyena, it is unlikely to be a giraffe even though they both have sloping backs and spots.
Is this going to be the floodgates opening? Are we likely to see some more cricketers fessing up to their dark Twitter, Facebook, Instagram pasts before it becomes public? It will be fascinating to see if this latest, unnamed player gets on the front foot and owns up to it or whether he waits to see if it becomes public before he then makes a sincere apology. Sometimes it is better to own the apology than to wait too long and surrender that last inch of the moral high ground.
Perhaps India has less to fear. My dim memories of your country is that respect sits at the very heart of cultural norms, instilled into children from a very young age, But as cricket has transformed India into a global powerhouse, with that transformation might also come some moments of career-ending shame. Hardik Pandya seems to have emerged unscathed from his little misdemeanour a few years ago when he made some unsavoury comments about females but the genie is now out of the bottle. Is the ECB the standard-setter or will countries like Australia and India just ignore these sorts of cases and hope that redemption is a cheap currency. Steve Smith for captain any day soon?
It might be fitting to quote CS Lewis; “mere improvement is not redemption although redemption tends to improve people.” He lived in a time before social media. The ‘cloud’ never forgets!
Michael Jeh is a Brisbane-based former first-class cricketer.
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