Retired batsman Ross Taylor has revealed he was offended by race-related remarks made by teammates and staff in New Zealand’s dressing rooms throughout his career and said the country’s cricket board could do more to bring Polynesian talent to the sport.
Taylor, who has Samoan roots on his mother’s side, described in his book Ross Taylor Black and White how he and other teammates endured insensitive “banter” from white players.
“In a lot of ways, the banter in the dressing room is the barometer,” wrote Taylor, who played his last international in April.
“A teammate used to tell me, ‘You’re half a good guy Ross, but which half is good? You don’t know what I mean.’
“I was pretty sure I did it.
“Other players have also had to put up with comments that addressed their ethnicity. In all likelihood, a Pakeha (white New Zealander) hearing such comments would think, ‘Oh, that’s okay, it’s just a little banter’.
“But he’s hearing it as a white person and it’s not aimed at people like him. So there is no resistance; no one corrects them.”
Taylor, New Zealand’s most prolific Test batsman with 7,683 runs, said the episodes left him with a sense of conflict.
“You wonder if you should pull them up but fear you’re creating a bigger problem or being accused of playing the race card by inflating harmless banter about racism,” said the 38-year-old.
“It’s easier to develop a thick skin and let it shed, but is that the right thing to do?”
He said former employees made awkward comments that “landed in one fell swoop”.
“Let me be clear: I don’t believe for a minute that they came from a racist perspective,” he said.
“I think they were insensitive and lacked the imagination and empathy to put themselves in the other person’s shoes.
“Instead of saying ‘You’re one of us, mate,’ it actually says ‘You’re one of them.'”
More than 8 per cent of New Zealand’s population is of Pacific origin, but Taylor is one of the few Pasifika cricketers to have reached the country’s highest level.
However, elite rugby in New Zealand is teeming with talent from the Pasifika community.
Taylor said some Polynesian parents may be put off by the cost of cricket equipment.
“But maybe New Zealand Cricket should put more resources into the Polynesian community because where I come from there needs to be more,” he wrote.