South African cricketers are getting death threats: Graeme Smith

Graeme Smith claims that he has received death threats after the expressing his support for Black Lives Matter (BLM).

During a webinar hosted by a financial services company on Tuesday (August 18), the Graeme Smith, who was the captain of South Africa and currently Cricket South Africa's (CSA) director of cricket, said: "It's been a really challenging experience. All of us have found ourselves in a really heated space. We've taken an immense amount of abuse, death threats. It's been an eye-opening experience. It has shocked me how heated things have got."

Earlier on July 6, Lungi Ngidi was asked whether BLM should be a matter of concern in the cricketing field between the South African players during an online press conference. He said it would, and welcomed it, he was criticised after that comment for bringing such topic in the cricketing profession.

"Lungi, to my mind, said nothing wrong," Smith said. "He expressed an opinion. He didn't make a statement. He expressed the fact that the team was going to get together and have a conversation. In no way did he deserve to be attacked. What happened to him and the way the guys came at him is entirely wrong."

The episode has been a painful one. "Within the space we've handled it extremely maturely," Smith said. "We got together, we listened, the conversation was open, people shared, and we decided to support each other on this movement. The conversation's open, people can listen, people can debate. We can talk to each other."

"I get that in South Africa we've got so many issues. In some ways, it's felt like we're bearing the brunt for the government not having delivered on a number of things over the years and the frustration over that. You pick up the paper or you click online and you see all the negativity and the disappointment and the frustration in people's lives, and livelihoods being affected, he added.

"When we jumped in in December cricket had fallen into really tough times; from performance on the field and within the business side," Smith said. "My job was more cricket-focused, but then you start having to repair a number of relationships - from sponsors to player bodies to fixing TV-rights deals, deals that were done in the past but haven't been paid for... and, and, and... You make it through the summer through trial and error, you rebuild some things. And then COVID hits and you face the next phase of those challenges."

"Cricket is such an extensive sport," Smith said. "You think down to the private coaching, the clubs, the schools, the whole pipeline. How we get that open is going to be a huge challenge. Opening up international travel so that cricket...home tours for us is how we generally earn the major part of our income, and at the moment that's all on hold. We're working with the government to see what the plans are. It's challenging."

Smith is hopeful for South Africa's women's team to fulfill their commitment to take part in the two T20Is and four ODIs in England in September: "I must commend the ECB. The money that they're investing on even trying to get our ladies over there - looking to charter planes then putting them into bio bubbles. They'll be spending an extensive amount of money to get this tour underway."

"Covid has hit corporates and business extensively," Smith said. "Finding people that have the money to spend is very challenging. You want to be putting out the right stories. You want the people who want to be associated with your brand want to be proud to be there. That's what we've got to create. We've got to clean up the game.

"The money that gets invested into growing the game and transformation and the development of the game - those are the stories you want to be making headlines. But I think cricket gets in its own way too often. Whether it's people finding themselves in the wrong position at the right time or bad decision-making, or egos that get into positions of power, it's unfortunate and it takes away from the beauty of our sport."

"The way the guys have handled things is fantastic," Smith said. "The messages are good coming out of there. We've got to be able to listen and understand the stories that other guys are bringing to the fore; where they're coming from. The goal is to try to move forward in the right direction and create a better path."

"Sport is brutal, and that's the challenge," Smith said. "Cricket is brutal. It's a high-performing environment. Your personal performance is always under scrutiny. You also have the element of people who feel begrudged by not getting that opportunity, not getting enough of a chance. It's a fine line between the two. Cricket is such a brutal game when it comes to that. There's going to be so many people across the cricketing fraternity who have been affected by that.

"There's lost heroes everywhere. That's why it's important to have these conversations and to open that channel. We're growing the game, we want to see the game represent all the people, we want to be successful. Let's get it going. That's what taking a knee [at the 3TC game] meant for us - we're all together. I haven't seen the team have such an honest conversation in a few years, which is great. People could share, listen to all sides, have an open discussion, and represent not only the BLM movement but the GBV [Gender Based Violence] movement as well, and raise R3-million [USD173,000] for charity. How do you become a better person? How do you affect your environment in a positive way? Everyone's hanging onto their cause and forgetting about the bigger picture at this stage."