DeFreitas talks of racism, recalls shooting threats
London, June 27: “If you play for England, we will shoot you” — that’s the kind of death threats former England allrounder Phillip DeFreitas claims to have received during his playing days as he opened up on the raging issue of racism in sports.
The 54-year-old DeFreitas, who took 140 and 115 wickets in 44 Tests and 103 ODIs respectively for England, said the multiple death threats that he received affected his international career as he couldn’t focus on cricket.
“I received hate letters from the National Front — it’s not only once, I received that two or three times, saying ‘If you play for England, we will shoot you’,” DeFreitas said in a Sky Cricket Podcast.
“I had police looking after my house. I had a sponsored car with my name on it and I had to remove that. So can you imagine me driving down
to London? I’m in a hotel two days before a Test match at Lord’s and I’m thinking ‘do I play or don’t I? Am I going to have a sniper?’ How can I focus on playing cricket for England with all that but with my determination, I would not allow those people to beat me ever,” he added.
The death of AfricanAmerican George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer in the United States has triggered global outrage against racism in society.
DeFreitas, who played for England between 1986 to 1997, said he received no support and had to fend for himself.
“I had no help, I had no support; I had to deal with that all on my own, it hurts quite a lot. I remember going home to my Mum and saying ‘I don’t feel like I belong there’. But I’m proud of what I achieved,” he said.
DeFreitas, who made his Test debut in the 1986/87 Ashes alongside two of his heroes — Ian Botham and Allan Lamb, said, “There was that feeling where you felt you were just on your own all the time. People used to say ‘why don’t you get involved’, ‘why don’t you be more with the team’. You felt lonely, you felt all on your own. It was really tough,” he recalled.