White cricketers no-balled on race

Rassie van der Dussen was the first white cricketer to voice his support for Black Lives Matter (BLM) after team-mate Lungi Ngidi’s earlier raising of the issue as something which should be discussed by the Proteas.

Van der Dussen tweeted: “I support BLM, I’m against all murders… physical, character and cultural murder… I support equal opportunities for all. Because I support BLM it does not mean that I support violence or Marxism, therefore I refuse to be labelled by people. Viva Africa!”

No doubt it will get him the sort of hate mail from a certain sector of society, which did the same to former Protea Alviro Petersen, who also spoke out about race problems in cricket in South Africa.

Van der Dussen hit the nail on the head with his accurate comment that some are lumping together the principle that black lives matter with the movement itself, which has extremists within its ranks. When black and coloured cricketers, many of them former national players, lined up to side with Ngidi and support BLM, it wasn’t long before the taunts started.

Petersen was called a “quota player” after he reacted to the well-publicised criticism from former Proteas Rudi Steyn, Pat Symcox and Boeta Dippenaar. Petersen tweeted, quite correctly, that his cricket record is better than Dippenaar’s, so “quota player” is the ultimate insult to Petersen.

Later, he aired a comment which he said came from a white former Proteas player: “Alviro, stay strong in your belief. You earned the right to wear the green cap. Most detractors don’t know anything about the game itself and what goes on behind the scenes.”

The fracas shows that an honest debate about race in cricket is long overdue. But it also shows many white players and supporters need to walk a mile in the other man’s boots.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.