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'Wake-up call': Should Australia's cricketers take the knee?
By Andrew Wu
Michael Holding is adamant Australia's men should take the knee – not just once but for every game. Josh Lalor is not so sure. Mel Jones says discussions with those who come face to face with racism also matter.
It's a small sample size but indicative of the whirlpool of ideas Australian cricket is navigating in recognising the Black Lives Matter movement and the cause of addressing racial injustice.
Australia's opening spell was dispatched over the fence. One-day captain Aaron Finch's explanation for not taking a knee – that education was more important than the protest – during the tour of England was dismissed as "lame" by Holding.
Coach Justin Langer later acknowledged the team had erred by not discussing the issue at greater length.
Jones is a CA director, co-chair of the game's National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cricket Advisory Committee (NATSICAC) and, with her West Indian heritage, one of few senior figures of colour in the game. She put it thus: "They got a little bit of a wake-up call in a sense, and they've reacted really well."
CA was this week told by an Indigenous activist, Tamika Sadler, via its own platform to address racism that the game in this country was viewed as a "white privileged sport".
Two-time World Cup winner Mel Jones is a Cricket Australia director and co-chair of the game's National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cricket Advisory Committee.Credit: Getty Images
Those in cricket more aware of its diversity programs and initiatives might disagree but for Sadler and the wider public the men's team is the sport's shopfront window, and predominantly white.
There is a view in some quarters at CA that its female cohort is more advanced in their understanding of the issue, which is not to say the men are not trying.
The national women's team performed a Barefoot Circle before their series against New Zealand last month, a rite started last season and which some in the game feel may be a more relevant gesture in Australia.
Senior players and figures in the men's team were due on Friday night to link up with CA's diversity and inclusion team over a course of action for the summer.
Langer wants to engage AFL great Adam Goodes to address his team, though may have jumped the gun in publicly stating so on Friday morning. A source familiar with the scenario says Goodes had not been asked and may be blindsided by media reports.
At a time when vulnerability is embraced in elite sport, players are being encouraged that it is OK to feel unsure about an issue wider Australia struggles to deal with.
Strong in his criticism two months ago, Holding is unmoved. Nothing has changed in that time, he argues, so why should his views change?
"What has happened for anyone to think that OK we're all equal, everyone is getting equal justice and we're a diverse society?" Holding tells the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age from his home in the Cayman Islands.
The West Indies great became cricket's unofficial voice on Black Lives Matter after sharing his experiences of racism in several emotional interviews. He wants players to take a knee to stimulate discussion among the public who might otherwise not be aware of racial inequality.
"You do something for a couple of weeks, people forget it and just move on," Holding says. "You do the same knee for every game, it's not difficult."
Lalor, one of few Indigenous men who has represented NSW at first-class level, is open to the idea if others are too, but is unsure what he would do.
"To be honest I haven't given it any thought, I'd probably lean slightly less," Lalor says. "I'm not going to walk out tomorrow and say it's on my radar and it's something I would do."
Jones is conscious of not forcing players into doing something they are not comfortable with but there is a sense she would like to see the men do more.
"It's a touchy space for a lot of people. People will be at different phases on their journey with things like this, and I get that," Jones says. "I know they haven't dropped the ball. What I would like people to do is completely different to what they're ready to be able to do and want to do as well.
"I would love every sport and every Australian to be really proactive in this space but people are different.
"From my side, I'm super, super impressed with the way CA staffers have provided information and opportunities so that when people are ready to go there is support there to do it. I'll probably leave it at that."
CA should not fear if fans are turned away from the game, Holding says, as it is better off without them.
"If you don't accept that there are problems and we need to help solve the problem then you have a problem and you need to sort yourself out before you come back into our game," Holding says.
As a CA board member, Jones is naturally more diplomatic, but she can see the grey.
"We have to be brave enough to at least have a vision of where we'd ideally like to go," Jones says. "If you do hold true to having some empathy behind your decision making hopefully we're getting somewhere in a good way, not just let's hope and maybe it will go away. It's not going away, is it?"