Moeen Ali – Michael Vaughan must ‘step up’ cricket’s fight against racism

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Ex-England captain’s remarks about British Muslims branded ‘very silly’ in new documentary

Osman Samiuddin17-Jul-2023 1 hour ago

Moeen Ali responds to historic tweets by Michael Vaughan in new AFP/Getty Images documentary

Moeen Ali has called on Michael Vaughan to ‘step up’ England cricket’s fight against racism, as he opens up publicly for the first time on a historic tweet from Vaughan suggesting Moeen should ask young Muslims if they are terrorists to help make society safer.

In a new documentary “Is Cricket Racist? arguing that Muslims must root out extremist elements from their communities themselves. At the time, Ray asked Vaughan on Twitter if he expected Moeen to ask Muslims he didn’t know if they knew any terrorists between games. Vaughan answered yes, if it helps “our children’s future and environment become a safer place.”

“That was very silly,” Moeen recounts in the documentary about Vaughan’s tweets. “Really stupid. We need people like him to stand up for us. As Muslims, or any other religion really. And just be a little smarter. I think he also realized that times are changing and that ‘it has to change.’

Vaughan apologized for the historic tweets, most recently during the Cricket Disciplinary Commission (CDC) racism hearings in March. At those hearings, Vaughan was eventually cleared of making a racist comment to Azeem Rafiq and three other South Asian Yorkshire players before the start of a T20 game in 2009.

But Moeen’s tweet, along with a few others, formed the central part of the ECB’s case against Vaughan, with their lead prosecutor Jane Mulcahy KC arguing they were “remarkably similar in tone” to remarks Vaughan allegedly made that were at the center of the hearings. Six other players and support staff, as well as Yorkshire CCC itself, were found guilty in those hearings of bringing the game into disrepute by using racist and/or discriminatory language.

Since then, a long-awaited independent report has revealed deep-rooted discrimination in the game in England, based on race, class and gender. The Independent Fairness in Cricket Commission (ICEC) report “Holding Up a Mirror to Cricket”, released last month, was based on evidence from 4,000 people in the game. interest was the lack of representation of British South Asians in professional cricket, despite much greater participation in recreational cricket.

“There is [British Asian] players who are doing better than anyone,” Moeen says in the documentary. “People won’t sign them for some reason. The South Asian player has to be almost exceptional most of the time, especially as a manager when sometimes a white player doesn’t need to be exceptional, and he gets signed.”

Moeen said Rafiq’s allegations and the aftermath since then were part of a “overhaul” the game needed.

“Obviously sad [for Rafiq’s experiences]but I also felt like the game needed an overhaul,” he said. “The biggest thing that came out of it for me is people have a voice now, whereas before people were very scared to say anything.”

Is cricket racist? airs on Channel 4 at 11:05 p.m. on July 18. It will also be available on the Channel 4 website.

Osman Samiuddin is an editor at ESPNcricinfo

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