'Cricket in New Zealand is a pretty white sport' - Ross Taylor on facing racism

Ross Taylor retired from international cricket earlier this year. Now, he has opened up on cricket in New Zealand being racist, and that preference is given to white guys.

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Former New Zealand top-order batter Ross Taylor retired from international cricket following a commendable career across formats. Following his retirement, he has written a book, in the form of his autobiography, titled Ross Taylor Black & White. However, he has admitted that there is racism regarding the sport in the country, where white men are preferred. Taylor happens to have a Samoan heritage from his mother. Throughout his career, he has faced racism, even in the dressing room, which was considered 'banter' for the ones involved. He also admitted that the team environment in New Zealand was usually racially "insensitive".

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In his extract, published by New Zealand Herald, Taylor writes, "Cricket in New Zealand is a pretty white sport. For much of my career, I've been an anomaly, a brown face in a vanilla line-up. That has challenges, many of which aren't readily apparent to your teammates or the cricketing public. Given that the Polynesian community is dramatically under-represented in the game, it's probably no surprise that people sometimes assume I'm Māori or Indian."

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"In many ways, dressing-room banter is the barometer. A teammate used to tell me, 'You're half a good guy, Ross, but which half is good? You don't know what I'm referring to.' I was pretty sure I did. Other players also had to put up with comments that dwelt on their ethnicity," added Taylor.

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"A Pakeha [white New Zealand people] listening to those comments would think, 'Oh, that's okay, it's just a bit of banter.' But he's hearing it as a white person, and it's not directed at people like him. So, there's no pushback; no one corrects them. Then the onus falls on the targets," continued Taylor.

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"You wonder if you should pull them up but worry that you'll create a bigger problem or be accused of playing the race card by inflating harmless banter into racism. It's easier to develop a thick skin and let it slide, but is that right?" Taylor concluded. Meanwhile, a New Zealand Cricket (NZC) spokesperson assured of reaching out to Taylor to investigate the same.

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"NZC deplores racism, is a staunch supporter of the NZ Human Rights Commission's 'Give Nothing to Racism' campaign, and is deeply disappointed Ross has been exposed to this behaviour. We'll reach out to Ross to discuss the matter," the spokesperson said to NZC.