Jofra Archer abuser banned from New Zealand venues for two years

The man who racially abused Jofra Archer during the first Test against New Zealand at Mount Maunganui in November has been banned from attending international and domestic matches in the country for two years.

Following a police investigation, a 28-year-old man from Auckland admitted the abuse, and has been issued with a verbal warning for using insulting language.

Archer heard the comments as he left the field following his dismissal towards the end of England’s innings-and-65-run defeat. He reported the comments to stewards at the time, and tweeted about the incident shortly after the match had finished.

A complaint was subsequently lodged with Tauranga police, incorporating CCTV footage, audio recordings, bystanders’ interviews and material gathered from social media. As ESPNcricinfo reported at the time, the alleged culprit contacted Archer on Instagram in the hours after the incident.

New Zealand Cricket confirmed in a statement that they had contacted the man and written to him, advising of his ban until 2022. If he breaches the ban he could be “subject to police action” again.

“We’d again like to extend our apologies to Jofra and the England team management for such an unsavoury incident and reiterate once more that this type of behaviour is completely unacceptable,” said NZC spokesman Anthony Crummy, who added that the board would not be identifying the individual.

“We want to thank the New Zealand police for their efforts in identifying the person responsible, and for making it clear that this type of behaviour will not be minimised,” he added.

Archer described the incident as “disturbing”, while captain Kane Williamson said the abuse was “horrific” and that he hoped “nothing like that ever happens again”.

England’s director of cricket, Ashley Giles, said at the time that the team would rally round Archer, who struggled with the ball in his first overseas Test series, and lamented the fact that racial abuse is still a factor in the modern game.

“It’s a problem in sport still, clearly, and it’s terrible that in this day and age this sort of thing is still happening,” he said. “It’s a good series and played in the right fashion and one person should not ruin that, but it’s a shame that sort of thing is still in society.”

Source: ESPN Crickinfo

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *