Cricket club tweets homophobic jibe about rival player
A cricket club in Scotland may face action for making a homophobic joke about a weatherman and a cricket player.
The bizarre tweet was sent from Ayr Cricket Club’s account, responding to a message from Scottish cricketer Majid Haq remarking on the mild weather.
Referring to flamboyant STV weatherman Seán Batty, the club wrote: “Big lad stop hanging out the back of Batty! Just ask him… #loser”.
After complaints about the tweet, the club deleted it and insisted: “We apologise if it appears that way. Was not intended to be homophobic. Misinterpreted.
“We apologise to all who has [sic] taken offence to the misinterpreted comment.”
Haq’s solicitor Aamer Anwar called for Cricket Scotland to take action, telling The National: “It’s shocking that a cricket club could post ‘homophobic abuse’ of player Majid Haq and a TV weatherman Sean Batty, yet no action appeared to be taken other than the tweet being deleted.
“It was only after Majid contacted myself to complain that I posted a tweet on December 20 for Ayr Cricket Club and Cricket Scotland to advise on what action they proposed to take.
“Ayr then compounded the situation further by attempting a half-hearted apology and describing the abuse as ‘misinterpreted’ rather than homophobic. That simply isn’t good enough.
“As for Cricket Scotland one wonders what if anything they propose to do.
“They were quick enough to suspend Majid from the World Cup Squad when he tweeted about it being ‘tough in a minority’, yet there has been total silence on this issue.”
