One of the weirdest things about racism, be it in person, on social media or emailed directly to a TV critic who dared to say a Cleopatra docudrama was fine, is that it so often comes with a caveat. First you get the bigotry, then a quick explanation that racism doesn’t exist anyhow. While a troll may spend their time trying to make people of colour hate themselves, they frequently claim that their use of racial slurs is born from the pure heart of a person who lives in a post-racial utopia. But unless viewers watch Channel 4’s Is Cricket Racist? with their eyes closed (broadcast as it is a few weeks after the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket’s report found “widespread and deep-rooted” racism), there is no denying that racism exists in the sport. So much so, that the answer to the question in the documentary’s title can only be: “Very.”
This programme sees the actor and presenter Adil Ray investigate a troubled time for cricket after the Yorkshire cricketer Azeem Rafiq spoke publicly about the racism he endured at the county cricket club. Ray covers the fallout, his personal experiences as a fan and the historic institutional biases in the sport. But even in light of the recent report and media coverage, the documentary is genuinely shocking.
