The England & Wales Cricket Board is “appalled” after a fan suffered racist abuse and sexual taunts while returning from Friday’s second Twenty20 game in Cardiff.
A group of five men on the 10.30pm train from Cardiff to Newport behaved in an “abhorrent and sexually violent” way towards one spectator, Rajvi Glasbrook. They were all returning from England’s match against Australia.
“It was obvious even before getting on the train at the platform that their behaviour was vile,” Glasbrook told Telegraph Sport.
“The haranguing started as I boarded the train.
“The language and leering was abhorrent and sexually violent in parts. One of the men set a Lynx can aflame at one point on a pretty packed carriage.”
As she was getting off the train after the journey, Glasbrook told the men she would report them. The group, who were all getting off at Newport, subsequently followed her from the platform to the outside of the station. There, one of the men told her to “f— off”.
After leaving the station, Glasbrook rang 101 to report the incident. She was then told to ring non-emergency British Transport Police. But when she called, no one picked up.
“Reporting should be easier,” Glasbrook said. “[The operators at] 101 should be able to pass on reports to BTS and vice versa. Being cut off whilst speaking and told to ring another number when scared and upset was unhelpful.”
After the incident, she said that she no longer feels safe to take the train.
Glasbrook gave details of the men and urged anyone who had further details to report them to the British Transport Police.
“On sight, they could have passed as a normal group of friends, just loud. One had a cheery Hawaiian shirt, another had a bucket hat – the kind of things you wear to the cricket,” she said.
ECB urging any witnesses to come forward and contact the police
Both the ECB and Glamorgan condemned the incident, stressing that such behaviour was not acceptable from anyone attending cricket matches. They have also contacted Glasbrook after the attack.
An ECB spokesperson said: “We are appalled by the abuse Rajvi experienced on her way home from this match, and would urge anyone who witnessed it or has any information to contact the police. Glamorgan Cricket has reached out to Rajvi, and we hope the perpetrators can be identified.”
Glamorgan said in a statement: “We are really sorry to hear about Rajvi’s experience on public transport on her way home. We condemn this type of behaviour and take any report like this seriously.
“Everyone at Glamorgan Cricket is proud of the warm, welcoming environment that we provide at Sophia Gardens. The messaging in all of our communications is clear, we stand against all forms of discrimination and there is no place for it in our sport or among people who support the sport.
“Alongside proactive reporting procedures during games, we provide a Safeguarding and Wellbeing specialist at our fixtures. This specialist has responded directly to Rajvi following her post.”
Friday’s T20 game was the only international fixture played at Sophia Gardens this year, with May’s T20 clash between England and Pakistan abandoned because of rain. The incident marred a thrilling match, which saw England chase down their target of 194 runs to win by three wickets, levelling the series at 1-1 ahead of Sunday’s series finale in Manchester.
Glasbrook said that the behaviour of the group of men “was not reflective of the civilised and good-natured lovely atmosphere at Sophia Gardens” and that “being able to have international games at Sophia Gardens has been such a good thing for Cardiff and Welsh supporters”.
British Transport Police have also been contacted for comment.
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