Racist accusations are so difficult to prove

AS a person who has been involved in sport over a great number of years, I have probably been subject to racism and, I suspect, I have made comments that are now construed as racist.

One thing I have learnt over those years is to communicate with those people who have made derogatory remarks to me and, where I have been guilty, to apologise.

As a hockey goalkeeper playing away to a side composed mostly of Indian players in London, their supporters have often sought to put me off by standing next to my goal and making remarks in a language that luckily I did not understand.

As an England Masters hockey player, many of the Indian sides I have played against are now my team-mates and anyone listening to the banter we exchange might construe that as racist.

I have also been lucky enough to have played all over the world and the worst racism I have seen was in Cape Town, where a black or coloured man abused a coloured waitress. To a man, my team-mates told him he was out of order and his riposte was: “She is a servant, mind your own business”.

My Indian friends have a dislike for those players from Pakistan and feelings run high when they play against each other. This probably all stems from events in 1947.

I do not know what happened in Yorkshire but I know it would not happen in my own hockey club (Isca), where everyone is welcome, regardless of colour, religion, sex or creed. Feelings do run high at times but selection for teams is based on ability, not on colour, and it is easy at times to confuse the issue but team selection is also based on how players fit into the system.

I have no time for the moronic chants at football matches but also I have no time for players who play the racist card many years after the alleged abuse took place.

Accusations that can rarely be proved or disproved, leading to the current situation at Yorkshire and now at Essex. The advantage of having team-mates and meeting opposition players from different parts of the world is the opportunity to have open conversations about different cultures, religions and how they live. It leads to a better understanding of how we live our lives and despite our differences allows us to air our views on many controversial subjects without fear or prejudice of any repercussions.

Talking about race may be a taboo subject but, the sooner we appreciate that we do live in a multicultural society and a society where, regardless of colour, “all lives matter, the better. There will always be people who think differently but we all come into the world the same way and eventually we all depart the same way – regardless of colour. Andrew Goodridge

Dawlish, Devon