The India cricket fans – many of them English-born – who booed Moeen Ali at the Edgbaston T20 game on 7 September blighted what should be British sport’s most uplifting story. Nothing was done to dissuade those who heckled or to eject them from the ground. Many commentators and papers glossed over it. Apparently some racially motivated bigotry does not warrant analysis. Before changing tack, Angus Porter, head of the Professional Cricketers’ Association, urged Ali to “take it as a positive. You’d rather be booed than ignored.”
Ali is not the first British Asian to be booed by pro-Indian crowds in England. Ravi Bopara, a Sikh, is routinely called a “traitor”, despite playing for the country of his birth. Isa Guha suffered similar experiences playing for the England women’s team. Ali, a devout Muslim instantly recognisable for his lustrous beard, was also born in England (only a few miles from the Edgbaston ground in Birmingham), as were his father and grandmother. Yet his religion and Pakistani family origin were held against him by a disgraceful segment of the crowd.
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