What is background to calls for Afghanistan cricket boycott?

Some have suggested that the Champions Trophy match between England and Afghanistan should not proceed.

Afghanistan’s participation in the tournament has caused plenty of controversy, with some saying England should boycott the match in response to the Taliban’s actions in the country.

The issue has come to light following the Tailban’s assault on women’s rights in Afghanistan.

Since the group’s resurrected in 2021, female sport participation has been effectively outlawed.

Women have been banned from universities, parks and sports. Many female cricket players eluded Afghanistan because the Taliban raided their homes for safety, and many of them did so.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) requires its full members, of which Afghanistan is one, to have a national women’s team, but the men’s team has retained its Test status, reached the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup last year and qualified for the latest global tournament, the Champions Trophy.

In January, a cross-party letter, signed by nearly 200 UK politicians, was sent to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) calling for England to refuse to play the match.

In response, the ECB called for unified action led by the ICC.

Richard Gould, the ECB’s CEO, wrote to the world’s ruling body inquiring about more “gender apartheid.”

He stopped short of asking for a boycott but did ask the ICC to place an “immediate condition” on Afghanistan’s full member status to provide women’s cricket by a certain date.

Since the Taliban’s rule, England has played Afghanistan twice at international competitions run by the ICC. They have not scheduled any bilateral matches against them that are organized by national cricket boards.

Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi and others, including Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and former Labour leaders Jeremy Corbyn and Lord Kinnock, signed the original letter.

To “send a clear signal” that “such grotesque abuses will not be tolerated,” it urged England to boycott the game.

“The power lies in the team”, said Antoniazzi – the MP for Gower. “How big is England cricket? It’s huge.

They are incredibly well-known and have a lot of influence in the sport, and I want them to realize that that influence is what they should use to change the world.

In the late 20th century, apartheid caused South Africa to be prohibited from competing in sports.

The Proteas are in the same group as England, Afghanistan and Australia and earlier this year, the country’s sports minister Gayton McKenzie said” if it was my decision, then it certainly would not happen”.

The federations of other nations, the ICC, and Cricket South Africa will have to consider carefully the message that the sport of cricket, and particularly women’s sports, wants to send the world.

Starmer also called for concerted action, despite party calls, but he declined to support a boycott.

While England captain Buttler stated in January that he does not believe a boycott is “the best way to go about it,” culture secretary Lisa Nandy later said the game should continue.

In a statement made by Nandy to the BBC in January, “They deny sports fans the opportunity they love and they can very much punish athletes and sportspeople who work very, very hard to achieve their goals.”

Criticism of the ICC’s position has continued. Its stance is that the current men’s soccer players should not be punished for Afghan government actions.

Additionally, it wants to influence change in the nation through its position and cricketing.

After the Taliban regained control, the ICC established a working group to address the issue, which has met with government representatives.

However, both the ICC and the organization as a whole have received a lot of negative feedback.

Afghan women’s cricketers who have fled to Australia claim that the ICC has not done anything to help them.

Boycotts in sport, and cricket, are not new.

South Africa’s ban is the most well-known example, but the United States also spearheaded the boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow in protest of the Soviet occupation there.

Due to Robert Mugabe’s rule, the UK government advised England against visiting Zimbabwe for a World Cup game in 2003.