Читать книгу No Win Race. A Story of Belonging, Britishness and Sport онлайн

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I didn’t know whether the teacher’s decision to take the captaincy away from me had been racially motivated, even if I suspected it was. Wasn’t the sole point. I didn’t like the way he dismissed me, the way he treated me, the way he bullied me. Without prompting, the rest of the team agreed with my assertion. They didn’t like my treatment either. So, they refused to play too. The cricket team went on strike.

A black teacher summoned me and the other black and brown players to his classroom to try and end the strike. I sat staring out the window as he tried to reason with us, make us aware that it was our duty to represent the school. The meeting ended in a stalemate.

The situation had become embarrassing to the school as it could no longer field a cricket team. The PE teacher relented. He made me co-captain. We ended up with three captains: one black, one white and one Indian.

The PE teacher continued to shout at me. He continued to try to intimidate me. I don’t believe our results were significantly better, but it had been a slight victory. It was probably the first time that I didn’t minimise myself. The first time I had not been hiding.