England play Afghanistan at cricket

[ArabellaScott]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2025/02/25/england-playing-afghanistan-heralds-day-unmitigated-shame/

Shame on them.

https://archive.ph/NUNWx

'...this match is taking place purely because of the cowardice of men. At cricket’s male-dominated governing bodies, men with no conception of the horror being visited on Afghan women are naturally inclined to view it as no barrier to the staging of a men’s tournament. Even when all three of Afghanistan’s group-stage opponents – England, Australia and South Africa – have condemned the Taliban unequivocally, they still lack the gumption to refuse to play. Even when Afghanistan are in flagrant breach of the International Cricket Council charter by failing to field a women’s team, the only response by the men in charge is to put their hands over their ears and hope that the protests wither away.'

Agreed, they should refuse.

'We are not talking here about some fleeting foreign concern, but about the wholesale destruction of freedoms for 14 million women prohibited from cooking near their own windows or from being educated beyond primary-school age. In sport, there is such a phenomenon as a moral imperative. It was heeded over South Africa, but it is being ignored over Afghanistan, as if the men running cricket have decided that women do not matter sufficiently for a boycott to be considered. And now, at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium, we reach the grisly endgame, a day of unmitigated shame.'

Thank you to Oliver Brown. And good luck to the women protesting, including Jean Hatchett and Arzo Parsi.

The politicians who swiftly left their mess in Afghanistan with the void for the Taliban to return to power are to blame.

https://www.ecb.co.uk/about/edi/report-discrimination

'Discrimination of any kind is unacceptable. If you are aware of or witness discrimination at any level of cricket in England and Wales, the Cricket Regulator wants to hear from you. Whatever discrimination you are aware of or have witnessed, your report will be reviewed and dealt with by the relevant cricket organisation. Reporting discrimination will help us to ensure cricket is a welcoming, inclusive, and diverse game for everyone.'

It is possible to report discrimination anonymously on that page.

I’ve just filled in the form, I have no hope it will shame them in the slightest as they’re are obviously devoid of morality.

It's a small thing. But movements are made of lots of small things.

Shame on them.🤬

Have filled in the form (which, incidentally, doesn’t recognise ‘sex’ as a ground for discrimination, only ‘gender’, and collects data on whether the complainant’s gender matches the one assigned at birth). Truly sickening that they are content for this to go ahead in light of what is happening.

Afghanistan women's cricketer, Firooza Amiri, says that an England boycott of the men's Champions Trophy match against Afghanistan was not the answer.

Speaking to Sky Sports News, she said: "It's good to see that the world wants to support us and support Afghan women, but I personally think a boycott doesn't have any impact."

Firooza added on the future of the Afghanistan team: "It's time for ICC to take action and recognise us as a national team, and let us compete on the world stage, or recognise us as a refugee team, then we can represent Afghanistan."

https://www.skysports.com/cricket/news/12123/13316698/afghanistan-women-support-englands-non-boycott-of-mens-champions-trophy-fixture

Discrimination of any kind is unacceptable

Jesus wept! The hypocrisy! The shit-filled bloody hypocrisy of saying that, while accepting the wholesale imprisonment and suppression of women in Afghanistan.

They certainly are to blame. But that doesn’t exonerate sports authorities who pretend nothing’s wrong.

Firooza added on the future of the Afghanistan team: "It's time for ICC to take action and recognise us as a national team, and let us compete on the world stage, or recognise us as a refugee team, then we can represent Afghanistan."

Why not both?

Forbid the men's team from playing. Support the women's team. That would be a poetic response to the situaiton in Afghanistan.

I was listening to radio 4 this morning and the England captain (I think) said that it "wasn't nice to hear about" the situation in Afghanistan - I was shocked that there was no consideration of what it would be like to live in that situation, the whole focus was on how it felt for him. (Approx 8.30am if anyone wants to listen)

We should be at war with Afghanistan.

Imangine if a country locked up all the men, didn't let boys go to school or talk or sin and murdered those who disobeyed. Do you think we would be sending a women's cricket team to play theirs?

The sheer irony of this

Excellent piece by Oliver Brown, though. Some journalists have stood up and told the truth on this, and others... 🙄

England men's team knocked out by Afghanistan.
Won by 8 runs

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/live/c1ez2zen2ydt

Losers on every level.

The only mention of women in the whole long live report:

'This is a match that has gained plenty of attention off the field for quite a while. In January, nearly 200 UK politicians demanded that England boycott the game in response to the Taliban's actions regarding women's rights in the country.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) criticised the International Cricket Council (ICC) response, but rejected the call of a boycott.
The Afghanistan men's team has been allowed to continue to compete on the world stage, despite the banning of its women's team being an apparent breach of ICC regulations.
Female participation in sport has effectively been outlawed in Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, and most of their women's side fled to Australia where they still live.'

Followed by pages and pages of men cracking jokes, smiling, and congratulating each other on their sportsmanship.

Fuck the lot of them, the players, the commentators, and the officials.

I listened to Evan Davis talk about this on R4 earlier. Well done BBC. Get a well known misogynist to talk about misogyny.

Of course we should boycott. Playing them gives legitimacy to the system in Afghanistan. We didn't play South African sports teams under apartheid. Why should we play Afghan teams now.

But obvs menz sports and what about the menz. Ffs.

Off to report discrimination in cricket.

Form filled, number 416. Evan Davies on Radio 4 - but the men were in refugee camps before they became good.so what, where are the women??? Being silently raped???

Filled in the form. I really hope that men in sport will decide to do something that's not just in their own interest for once