Amateur cricket league bans player’s anti-racist jumper

Haider Rasool was told to remove his jumper

An amateur cricket player was told to remove a jumper which contained an anti-racist message while playing for his local side. Haider Rasool was playing for Rockingham Colliery club in the Yorkshire Cricket Southern Premier League when he was told to remove the jumper which he opted to wear after being shocked at recent events in the sport - in particular the allegations of racism at Yorkshire County Cricket Club.

'I didn't see a problem with it'

Yorkshire Cricket Southern Premier League have reiterated that they have a policy which means slogans on any uniform are banned - but they wholeheartedly support the message Rasool was trying to get across. Rockingham have since put the message on one of their boundaries but Rasool admitted that he was surprised to hear the league's stance and that they didn't want to spread the message "loud and clear." "Why was it under dispute? Wearing something that's an awareness. It's not a slogan, it's part of Kick It Out," he told the BBC. "Kick it Out is famous for using it in football. So you watch Premier League games and it says 'No room for racism in football', so I didn't see a problem with it." https://twitter.com/BBCSheffield/status/1537319100304838656 The league had initially planned to deduct points from Rasool's side and in an email sent directly to him, explained that they couldn't bend the rules just for his message. It said: "We all agree with the sentiments expressed on your jersey, that is not the point. "If we allow your slogan how can we then deny someone else the right to express another view that might be more controversial or potentially offensive to others?"

Rasool was supported by members at Rockingham CC

Rasool has received support from his own club though. "It hasn't been difficult at all in terms of us wanting to stand by his message," said Richard Skipworth, director of cricket of Rockingham. "What we want to do now is to find a way around and we want to stop any bad feeling, any ill-feeling." Related links:

• Former England cricketer Ebony Rainford-Brent was told to ‘leave our country’ in racist letter
• Cricket needs a Kick It Out-style organisation to tackle racism, says Julian Knight MP
• Cricketer Azeem Rafiq was ‘pinned down’ and forced to drink red wine as a 15-year-old