Langer looks to Goodes as cricketers consider taking a knee

The Australian cricket team has not turned its back on the Black Lives Matter movement and will approach Adam Goodes for advice.

The Australian cricket team has sought the advice of Adam Goodes. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Justin Langer believes the Australian cricket team should be ready to take a knee if that is what it takes.

The men’s side is scrambling to find a way through the push for equality and inclusion that has become such a divisive topic.

Langer, one-day captain Aaron Finch and vice-captain Pat Cummins took advice from members of Cricket Australia’s National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Cricket Advisory Committee and spoke via phone hook-up last night about how to approach the protest this summer.

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“We are really aware of it, it’s an important issue in society, we want to to do it with dignity and great respect, whether it’s taking a knee, we’ll come up with it in the next little bit but it is front of mind at the moment,” Langer said.

The white-ball team was criticised by Michael Holding for not making a gesture during the recent UK tour and Langer admitted they were caught out and must do better.

Players, management and coaches also hope to seek advice from Indigenous role models such as Adam Goodes and Stan Grant. Some have even sought counsel from rapper Adam Briggs as they find a way through the issue ahead of this summer.

Players take a knee before the Women’s Big Bash League game between the Adelaide Strikers and the Hobart Hurricanes

Black Lives Matter was a key agenda item among state chief executives during the week in a phone hook-up with Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley with some states alarmed by the ad hoc approach in the WBBL last weekend.

Some teams and individual players in the Women’s Big Bash League have taken a knee at the beginning of games and there are reports the issue has sparked intense discussions behind the scenes.

The issue may not be as big for visiting Indian players. When Hardik Pandya took a knee and raised his fist on reaching 50 for the Mumbai Indians earlier this week he became the first player to make a protest in the IPL.

Langer is determined his side gets it right this time.

“We know that we have to be really strong on this, we have to lead it, there’s a meeting between a few of us this afternoon,” he said. “We need to be educated and be really clear on what we are standing for.

“We want to lead the representation on this, now we are working out through talking to Aboriginal elders, talking to people hopefully like Adam Goodes, Stan Grant … we’ve got to be really clear, take our time and make sure we are strong on the messages and what we are representing here.”

Taking a knee was popularised in American football by Colin Kaepernick but spread more widely during Black Live Protests during the year.

“I was with an Aboriginal elder last night and one of my follow up question to him — I want to understand the history of taking a knee,” Langer said. “We talk about the barefoot circles, we’ve talked about different initiatives and ways of representing this, but I really want to know the significance of that and if that’s the best way to represent it, I want to hear from our Aboriginal elders, I want to hear from people who have experienced racial discrimination — I haven’t — I want to hear from them what’s the best way forward.”

West Indies captain Jason Holder and his teammates take a knee before a Test in July

Langer said he has watched the documentaries on Goodes who was driven out of football by a campaign of booing and racist abuse.

Goodes was the subject of two documentaries, The Final Quarter and the Australian Dream, and eventually received an apology from the AFL for its failings during the last years of his career. The jeer leaders deny there was any racism in their booing.

South Australian coach Jason Gillespie took part in the Cricket Connecting Country podcast with former Yorkshire player Azeem Rafiq during the week in which the emotional player described how “institutional racism” in the club set-up drove him from the game.

Gillespie became coach during Rafiq’s time at Yorkshire and said he was heartbroken to hear what was going on.

“I remember there were a couple of times where I saw Azeem struggling; I didn’t know there was this undertone of things going on regarding racism,” Gillespie said.

“I remember there were some issues with his cricket, but listening to that interview really opened up my eyes that there was a lot more to that period at the club when his game was suffering and he was battling off the field, and in turn there were some battles on the field.

“It all almost meshed together … that‘s why it was heartbreaking for me and quite upsetting for me to watch that.”