Ollie Robinson/Twitter

[surge]

Boris Johnson, who has not apologised for any of his comments*, has said a suspension of the player is going too far. I wonder if he recognises conflict of interest?

A suspension is the right thing to do and in this case it appears that period can be completed very, very quickly. If he's grown up/learnt from mistakes he won't mind sitting out of cricket for a week or two and making a further apology before things move on.

*His recent apology was for offence taken rather than for wanting to make anti-islam comments.

[Llandaff Blue]

To add... Imagine if this had been a young British Pakistani playing for England, And what came to light was him encouraging Terrorism, Hatred towards jews etc. on the old Twitter. I wonder how that would go down? Ahh, it's nothing, he was a kid' The P.C brigade are winning...

If anyone was found to be encouraging terrorism I'd hope they'd get a knock from the police.

[the other bob wilson]

If anyone was found to be encouraging terrorism I'd hope they'd get a knock from the police.

Nice swerve.

[Llandaff Blue]

Nice swerve.

His comment is beyond stupid, of course the reaction would be different in that scenario.

[Tuerto]

His comment is beyond stupid, of course the reaction would be different in that scenario.

Racism is a crime as well. My point may have been over the top, but if it was a British Muslim spouting hate, who just so happened to play for England, then you know as well as I do that the reaction on here and with the public and media in general, would he the polar opposite.

[jon1959]

His comment is beyond stupid, of course the reaction would be different in that scenario.

Nice swerve.

[Llandaff Blue]

Racism is a crime as well. My point may have been over the top, but if it was a British Muslim spouting hate, who just so happened to play for England, then you know as well as I do that the reaction on here and with the public and media in general, would he the polar opposite.

I don't disagree with you at all, just thought the comparison was completely ridiculous and discredited your point. I don't really care that some idiot is getting repercussions for tweets he made when he was an adult, he brought the sport into disrepute and will serve a small suspension, oh well.

[Llandaff Blue]

Nice swerve.

[Tuerto]

I don't disagree with you at all, just thought the comparison was completely ridiculous and discredited your point. I don't really care that some idiot is getting repercussions for tweets he made when he was an adult, he brought the sport into disrepute and will serve a small suspension, oh well.

Yup, the point i made about encouraging Terrorism was over the top, granted, but surely you can see the point i'm making if you forget that comment. Why you couldn't just say that in the first place instead of dismissing the whole post based on one point is a bit beyond me!

[life on mars]

I've tried to cast my mind back to when I was 18. Quite difficult I must say!
I certainly said and did some strange things at that age, but did I ever abuse anyone, racially, or in other ways? I think not. I doubt that if Twitter had been about that i would have said the same things as Robinson either.
No, i dont think what he said was acceptable and to me is a reflection of a mindset which he probably still holds today.
It is disappointing that reasonable posters on here cannot see what he says is unacceptable and goes a long way to explaining the unpleasant country we have become.
Robinson will be reinstated eventually, as he should but like another poster has said, he needs to show in a tangible manner that his attitude has changed.

Hasn't the length of time some 9 years been served since repeating the same remarks or behaviours enough time as he is now 27 , some folk are released form jail within shorter periods of time for major crime ?

[Tuerto]

Hasn't the length of time some 9 years been served since repeating the same remarks or behaviours enough time as he is now 27 , some folk are released form jail within shorter periods of time for major crime ?

Jesus, He hasn't been to jail though,or been punished. You make it sound like he's been persecuted for the past 10 years or whatever it is. These tweets have only just come to light. He was-is an idiot, most 18 year olds don't spout shit like that. He needs to be seen to be doing something about what he said. A simple 'Sorry mate' isn't enough. Hopefully he learns and is allowed to continue his career. Hopefully this episode changes his attitude and something positive comes from it.

[life on mars]

Jesus, He hasn't been to jail though,or been punished. You make it sound like he's been persecuted for the past 10 years or whatever it is. These tweets have only just come to light. He was-is an idiot, most 18 year olds don't spout shit like that. He needs to be seen to be doing something about what he said. A simple 'Sorry mate' isn't enough. Hopefully he learns and is allowed to continue his career. Hopefully this episode changes his attitude and something positive comes from it.

How do we know he hasn't changed his attitude since that post some 9 years ago and is a completely reformed character,is there evidence to say otherwise , are there more posts to be revealed ??

[Tuerto]

How do we know he hasn't changed his attitude since that post some 9 years ago and is a completely reformed character,is there evidence to say otherwise , are there more posts to be revealed ??

We don't know, that's the whole point, isn't it?

[life on mars]

We don't know, that's the whole point, isn't it?

Well the minefield twitter snoopers / media would have been digging around , and something would have surfaced by now I'm guessing,what does he have to do to prove himself now ? If this behaviour was carried out in the last few years I'd suggest a life ban from all forms cricket would be appropriate. The man is now 27 and was once a stupid or pissed up 18 year old , is the key for me .

[Dave Blue]

Remarkable that government ministers and the PM are getting involved. They are virtually condoning it. Gives free rein to any teenager to fill their racist/sexist boots. Those who make those comments at 18 almost certainly still hold those views I would suggest.

[surge]

Remarkable that government ministers and the PM are getting involved. They are virtually condoning it. Gives free rein to any teenager to fill their racist/sexist boots. Those who make those comments at 18 almost certainly still hold those views I would suggest.

The prime minister has furthered his career as a highly intelligent adult by using very similar language and humour and doesn't want to apologise for it. Why do you think they're trying to protect teenagers?

[blue matt]

Nonsense. He was 18 years old and he said some vile things in the public domain. He's representing his country and is now very high profile. What do you expect the ECB should do, just say that he was a daft young adult and that it's all ok now? He surely has to answer to what he said, explain himself and show that he doesn't think like that anymore. If someone of the same age in employment, higher education etc used those words, then they would be up the road, and rightly so. This bloke isn't being singled out, he's being treated the same way any of us would in our job if we used language like that.

I hope that it's all sorted out, that he understands what he did, explains himself and resumes his career, nobody should have to pay forever, that's ridiculous and a huge waste, nobody wins in my opinion. Stop apologising for piss poor behaviour, or maybe behaviour that doesn't particularly bother you.

Ive already said " He was a 18 year old acting the knob on social media " its a few posts up

As soon as the tweets came to light he apologised, now you might say " Yea but he had to try and save his career " yes he did, but I am unsure of anything else he could have done to put it right

He could have easily met with the ECB and explained his actions and said " I apologise for being a knob head at 18 " at anytime, does being pulled from the 2nd test ( and maybe more ) make people feel he is being punished for the crime ? ? ? how long should he be banned for ? ? ? 1 years, 2 years, 5 years ? ? ? what is the correct punishment for being a knobhead posting racist / sexist / unacceptable posts, we will all have different opinions on what the punishment should be, from the " he has apologised and cannot do anything more than that " to the " never pick him for international cricket again ", the big question is where is that line ?

As youngsters, people make mistakes, its lifes learning curve, if you have never made mistakes and made poor errors in judgement you are a lucky person , now at his age i wasnt making racist / sexist remarks because that wasnt in my nature, but i sure as hell did things that i wouldnt do now


for the record I am not apologising for piss poor behaviour, and his behaviour was obviously wrong and unacceptable, Ive said he was " acting the knob on social media " but I am not sure what more he can do going forward other than apologise for his tweets ( which he did straight away )

[Pearcey3]

though expected made a mistake, apologised for it, would have been end of the story years ago, but not these days for a certain section of society slowly but surely they are winning

The ECB had no choice here as they operate a zero tolerance policy so had to act. A short suspension would be appropriate in the circumstances. No more than that. That’s on the understanding he appreciates what he said was wrong and has learnt from it.

[blue matt]

The ECB had no choice here as they operate a zero tolerance policy so had to act. A short suspension would be appropriate in the circumstances. No more than that. That’s on the understanding he appreciates what he said was wrong and has learnt from it.

fair enough, miss the next test ( or even the series ) and we move forward in the knowledge that he has apologised and will not do anything like it again

but as i asked, will that be enough for some

[Tuerto]

fair enough, miss the next test ( or even the series ) and we move forward in the knowledge that he has apologised and will not do anything like it again

but as i asked, will that be enough for some

It would be enough for me, although who cares what some people think. The important thing is that he can acknowledge what he said was wrong and that he can do something positive in order to show people that he isn't the same person. A written apology (by someone else) just wont do.

[willo1927]

The thing is, it's all white people who think it's ok for an apology like the one he has given, a bit like apologising to your sister 20 years on, because it was really you who broke her record player! Not a chance. The problem is that plain old sorry just aint enough. He needs to show that he isn't a racist, he has to do something physical, get involved etc, that's the same for all of us. No doubt i'll have the usual wankers on my case, trotting out the usual cliched, apologist crap.

No racist tweets in 9 years and you want him to prove he isn't a racist.
He was a nieve teenager and has apologised already in public.
You seem to want him publicly flogged.
If he tweeted this last week then you would have a point but it was a third of his lifetime ago ffs

[the other bob wilson]

No racist tweets in 9 years and you want him to prove he isn't a racist.
He was a nieve teenager and has apologised already in public.
You seem to want him publicly flogged.
If he tweeted this last week then you would have a point but it was a third of his lifetime ago ffs

You make it sound like racism/sexism/homophobia is something that teenagers have for a while then get over like acne! I don't think there would be figures out there to prove this either way, but my view is that in the majority of cases, if you hold racist views at eighteen, the likelihood is that you will at fifty - in fact, you may well be a worse racist.

It's being reported by the BBC that an offensive historical tweet has been found that was posted by a second England squad member. Furthermore, a player who could well replace Robinson in the team on Thursday, Craig Overton, has form in this area as well - this is taken from his Wikipedia entry;-

"During a County Championship match against Sussex in September 2015, Overton racially abused Pakistani batsman Ashar Zaidi whilst bowling. He received a two match ban as a result of the incident."

While you could argue as to which offence is the more serious, I'd say what happened with Overton sets a precedent and if Robinson received the same two game ban that should be an end to the matter unless there is a repeat of such behaviour from him.

Although I've not heard about examples of it happening in anywhere else but England, it seems that racial booing is becoming an issue again in football in the UK with the situation not being helped by the inaction of Johnson who has deemed the ECB's punishment of Robinson to be "over the top" and refused to condemn these who booed the taking of the knee before England's game with Romania on Sunday. The fact that man has come down on that side of the argument is all of the confirmation you need that the cricket authorities were right to take the action they have against Robinson.

[Tuerto]

No racist tweets in 9 years and you want him to prove he isn't a racist.
He was a nieve teenager and has apologised already in public.
You seem to want him publicly flogged.
If he tweeted this last week then you would have a point but it was a third of his lifetime ago ffs

Yeah, I want him flogged, and in front of a baying crowd of mad lefties, LGBT activists, Marxists and those who are offended on behalf of others..... Or, he could properly acknowledge what he has said, explain himself and do something positive to rectify the situation. Then resume his cricket career, or continue it while he learns that what he said was so very wrong.

This thread is quite interesting in the fact that some people seem to think that what this bloke said was pretty standard fare for a young adult. Here's news, it isn't. Maybe some people on here are seeing this cricketer through their own eyes, in their form so to speak. Which would make sense considering the replies. If so, then I hope that they've learnt from the past, hopefully the cricketer will do the same.

[Croesy Blue]

Should teenagers be treated different because they're young and naive?

[Tuerto]

Should teenagers be treated different because they're young and naive?

What excuse is there for fully fledged adults?