"It was 10, 11 years ago, have certainly changed as a person since" - James Anderson on an old viral tweet
Veteran England pacer James Anderson has opened up on the old tweet posted by him that has gone viral in the wake of the Ollie Robinson controversy. According to the fast bowler, the post was made 10, 11 years back, and he has changed as a person since.
After Robinson’s ‘racist’ and ‘sexist’ tweets from 2012 and 2013 resurfaced as he made his Test debut, old tweets with somewhat unsavory comments from other England stars have also gone viral on social media.
One of the viral tweets was posted by James Anderson, in which he referred to fellow pacer Stuart Broad. Speaking to Sky Sports, James Anderson admitted:
"It is something we are definitely going to have to look at (historic social media posts). But if we educate well enough, that language and those tweets do not go out in the first place. The historical stuff, for me, it was 10, 11 years ago. I have certainly changed as a person since then. That is the difficulty; things do change and you do make mistakes."
According to a recent report on Wisden.com, they had found another old tweet from a current (unnamed) cricketer, who had made a post that was racist in nature when he was 16. Reacting to the development, James Anderson said:
"I remember being that age. You do make mistakes. You are very young and inexperienced but, as people, we have just got to try and get better, improve and make sure that this sort of thing does not happen - that people are aware it is unacceptable.
"It does not matter how old you are. You can never know too much. I think it is really important that we keep doing this, keep buying into this, because it is really important for our game - we want it to be an inclusive one."
Trying to learn from Ollie Robinson controversy: James Anderson
While the first Test between England and New Zealand ended in a hard-fought draw, the match was marred by the racism controversy surrounding Robinson.
James Anderson admitted that the last few days had been a tough one for the entire England team, but added that everyone is trying to learn from the controversy.
James Anderson commented:
"It is a difficult time. As players, we are trying to learn from this. We realise it is important to try and educate around these issues, which we are continuing to with the ECB and the PCA. We have already been doing workshops before this series to try and help improve ourselves as people, basically, to try and make sure this sort of thing doesn't happen."
James Anderson also revealed that Robinson's apology over his past misdeeds was accepted in the dressing room.
"It has been accepted. He stood up in front of the group and apologised, and you could see how sincere he was and how upset he was. As a group, we appreciate that he is a different person now. He has done a lot of maturing and growing since then and he's got the full support of the team. He has definitely changed as a person and is going to improve, learn from this.”
England and New Zealand will meet in the second Test at Edgbaston, starting June 10.
Despite an impressive debut, Robinson won’t feature in the Test as he stands suspended from international cricket, pending the outcome of a disciplinary investigation over the ‘racist’ and ‘sexist’ tweets he posted in 2012 and 2013.