England bowler Ollie Robinson is facing a backlash over his ‘stupid, idiotic and naive’ Twitter posts, but Steve Harmison says the humiliation he has faced over the last 24 hours ‘is punishment enough’ for his past transgressions.
Robinson has apologised for a series of historic racist and sexist social media posts, which emerged during his Test debut on Wednesday.
The 27-year-old took 2-50 on the opening day of the first Test against New Zealand at Lord’s, but his performance was then marred as offensive messages he posted in 2012 and 2013 – when he was 19 – came to light.
Robinson said in a statement: “On the biggest day of my career so far, I am embarrassed by the racist and sexist tweets that I posted over eight years ago, which have today become public.
“I want to make it clear that I’m not racist and I’m not sexist. I deeply regret my actions, and I am ashamed of making such remarks.
“I was thoughtless and irresponsible, and regardless of my state of mind at the time, my actions were inexcusable. Since that period, I have matured as a person and fully regret the tweets.”
ECB chief executive Tom Harrison strongly condemned the tweets and promised a full investigation.
Harrison said: “I do not have the words to express how disappointed I am that an England Men’s player has chosen to write tweets of this nature, however long ago that might have been.
“Any person reading those words, particularly a woman or person of colour, would take away an image of cricket and cricketers that is completely unacceptable. We are better than this.
“We have a zero-tolerance stance to any form of discrimination and there are rules in place that handle conduct of this nature. We will initiate a full investigation as part of our disciplinary process.”
Not only did the tweets emerge on the day of Robinson’s Test debut, they also came to light on the same day as England and New Zealand shared a ‘Moment of Unity’, designed as a stand against racism, religious intolerance, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, ableism and ageism.
Harrison added: “Our England Men’s Team, alongside others from the ECB and our partners across the game, worked together today to create a moment of unity. Using today’s spotlight to reaffirm our commitment to driving forward an anti-discrimination agenda.
“Our commitment to that effort remains unwavering, and the emergence of these comments from Ollie’s past reiterates the need for ongoing education and engagement on this issue.”
Harmison called the tweets ‘stupid, idiotic and naive’, but the England Ashes winner said the embarrassment of it it all coming to light now is punishment enough.
He told Thursday’s talkSPORT Breakfast: “He sat there and he looked embarrassed, he looked tearful. This was the best day of his life, he was making his England debut.
“He was 18 years old and just embarking on a Yorkshire career… but he’s got nowhere to go.
“It was naive, it was stupid, it was idiotic, it’s embarrassing for the kid now.
“I’m not going to stick up for him, but when you look at it, he has made a mistake and he has apologised and hopefully he can move on and hopefully it doesn’t scar him too much, because it was a long time ago.
“That’s not condoning it or sticking up for the kid, but you do make mistakes, you do say some things that you can’t take back, and he can’t take this back.
“We’ve all done things we’re not proud of in the past, I think that needs to be stressed.
“Whether there’s any punishment, I actually think the embarrassment of what has happened over the last 24 hours, for me, that’s punishment enough.”