The West Indian cricketers deservedly knighted for services to the game, and for work beyond the boundary, will always be stellar exemplars for what they accomplished as players as well as how they unified the Caribbean as a region. For their outstanding efforts today the region has its own constellation that is unique for these bright stars: Sir Curtly Ambrose, the Reverend Sir Wesley Hall, Sir Conrad Hunte, The Right Honourable The Lord Constantine, Sir Vivian Richards, Sir Richard Richardson, Sir Anderson Roberts, The Hon. Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Clyde Walcott, Sir Everton Weekes, and Sir Frank Worrell.
So what former cricketer, and BBC commentator, Geoffrey Boycott, has done in disparaging such august names is surely not cricket. Boycott too has had his moment in the sun, representing England for 24 years, scoring 8,114 runs in 108 Test matches for England. He is the first English cricketer to achieve the landmark of scoring 8,000 Test runs, and for this accomplishment was recipient of the Officer of the Order of the British Empire. However, while he has had his glory in the sun, unlike his Caribbean colleagues, it appears the twilight of this career has not seen his ascension into the eminence of knighthood as an eternal, shining star.
So what we have is the singularity of a spark with Boycott being an Officer of the Order of the British Empire; however, it seems this high rank rankles, as he believes it is nothing but an opener, and that he is of VIP, if not Man of the Match, quality. According to the reports last month, Boycott publicly, and bitterly, expressed disappointment about being bypassed twice for the acclaim of the rank of knighthood, the well-deserved honour so far awarded to 11 of our most outstanding West Indian cricketers.
So it came to pass in a Q&A session, where Boycott was fielding questions from an audience during a break in play at the day-night Test against West Indies at Edgbaston, he stated knighthoods were handed out like “confetti” to West Indian cricketers. He added: “Mine's been turned down twice. I’d better black me face.” His remarks were met with “an uneasy silence” from the audience, the media reported.
Boycott later issued an apology in a series of three tweets following his racist remarks: “Speaking at an informal gathering I was asked a question and I realise my answer was unacceptable. I meant no offence but what I said was clearly wrong and I apologise unreservedly. I have loved West Indian cricket my whole life and have the utmost respect for its players.”
The apology was not good enough for Birmingham community activist Desmond Jaddoo. Boycott’s comments were “like something from the dark ages”, he said, rightly adding: “They were ill-advised and ill-conceived. The West Indian cricketers received knighthoods because they excelled on the cricket field. He should take a long, hard look at why he doesn’t have a knighthood rather than offending those who do have one.”
At home in the Caribbean, writing in the Trinidad Express, Sir Ronald Sanders set the achievements of our knighted players within its more appropriate, post-colonial context, saying Boycott missed “the point that what also led to the knighting of Vivian Richards, Garfield Sobers, and others is the sense of dignity, of excellence and of strength that they gave to West Indian people, who, until the emergence and ascension of these players, were marginal to the rest of the world”.
Lamentably, calls for a boycott by the BBC from eminent sports commentators, including our own Joseph ‘Reds’ Perreira, following such distasteful and disparaging remarks saw the broadcaster refusing to lift the finger to send Boycott back into the pavilion. It would have been a dismissal richly deserved, the evidence incontrovertible that Boycott, having stepped out of his crease, had been comprehensively bowled.