Windies Head Coach Phil Simmons Opens Up About Racism Faced By Him While Playing Cricket In English Leagues

“I encountered quite a bit (of racism) up in the leagues. In county cricket I haven’t really encountered that much. But I have encountered it in the leagues,” he was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

West Indies Head Coach Phil Simmons - AFP

New Delhi: In what throws open yet another case of racial abuse within the cricketing world, West Indies cricket team head coach Phil Simmons has claimed that he was subject to racial abuse when he was playing cricket in various leagues in England. Simmons, who is currently part of West Indies team which is in England to play a Test series, did not specify in which English league he was racially targeted. “I encountered quite a bit (of racism) up in the leagues. In county cricket I haven’t really encountered that much. But I have encountered it in the leagues,” he was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. “It’s not a nice thing to face. Especially in the leagues where you’re by yourself sometimes. It affected my wife when I was up there. It’s not a nice thing. I played in three or four different leagues. It was one particular league up in the north east.” Simmons has a joined a growing list of cricketers, including Windies stalwarts Chris Gayle and Daren Sammy who have also been quite vocal in raising their protests about racism in the sports and how they have been subject to the same during their playing stints across T20 leagues across the world. The 'Black Lives Movement' has garnered a lot of steam worldwide following the death of African-American George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer in the USA. Simmons said that the West Indies team too would be showing its support to the movement when the three-Test series against England begins on July 8. “We definitely are thinking about things that we can do to show our solidarity with the movement. We definitely have plans to show our unity and our backing to it. The chats with the English are on-going and by the end of this week we’ll see what we can do together,” Simmons added. The series, to be played in a bio-secure environment, will mark the resumption of international cricket which was suspended in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.