iNews: Robinson deleting tweets wouldn't have helped
An authentic apology and tangible evidence of change is the only path forward for the cricketer and others like him.
Four crude, racist, sexist tweets he posted in 2012 and 2013 overshadowed 27-year-old cricketer Ollie Robinson’s first game for England last week. After they emerged, he was suspended by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) from playing in the next Test match, pending a full investigation, and will now miss his county Sussex’s first two T20 Blast games as he takes a “short break” from the game.
The furore has polarised opinion far beyond the cricketing world. To some, Mr Robinson at 19 was a fully formed adult, able to vote, marry and represent his country in sport, and as culpable then for racism and sexism as he would be today.
How could the ECB do anything else when players appeared in T-shirts with anti-discrimination slogans on the field at Lord’s just a few hours earlier?
However others argue, he was barely more than a child, who had left school without any formal qualifications and has since then worked to change and become a better person. How could it be right that he was judged so fiercely for tweets written so long ago? Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said that the ECB had “gone over the top” with the suspension.
Mr Robinson is far from the only person to be caught out by tweets made earlier in life. A second, unnamed England cricketer is being investigated over historical “offensive” social media posts made when he was under the age of 16.
The ECB has begun a review of all past social media posts by its contracted players and may well extend its investigation to those on the fringes of the squad, and the young players coming through the ECB’s pathway schemes. In doing so, it hopes it will be seen to be taking a firmer stance on discrimination than it has in the past.
Examples abound in football, too. West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen apologised for tweeting racist language when he was a 15-year-old in Hereford’s youth ranks. While on loan at Swansea earlier this year, American player Paul Arriola deleted tweets containing “offensive and discriminatory words” that he posted in 2012, when he was 17, and issued an apology, saying he was “ashamed” of them. “While they have not received much attention,” he said, “I wanted to acknowledge those and address them.”
“It’s important for anyone of any age to be aware that once they post something on social media, it will stick and it’s easy to find,” says David Alexander, founder of Calacus PR, experts in sports crisis communications.
“Even when people delete things, there is always an image of it somewhere online which could catch them out.”
Pleading youth will never work in these situations either, he adds. “You have to apologise for your actions and show an authentic understanding of the situation, what you can learn from it, and what you can do as a result.”
Mr Robinson’s long, prepared apology was a good example of this, and was authentic enough for him to likely be able to return to playing cricket.
“He accepted that he had done something wrong and he explained that he is already in the process of trying to address the root causes of his words. Down the line, he could set an example to other youngsters of what can happen if you are inappropriate with the content that you share on social media.
“There’s nothing greater than a redemption story,” he adds. “We want to see people turn their lives around – but it has to be sincere.
“Ultimately, this starts with parents and the education system. Tolerance and understanding should be at the fore of education for every young person.”
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