The chief executive of the European Central Bank, Richard Gould, has denied requests from a group of British politicians for England to skip their Champions Trophy match against Afghanistan in February.
Stating that , the Taliban regime’s crackdown on women’s rights calls for a “co-ordinated, ICC-led, response” rather than individual nations acting alone.
The ECB is under pressure to act after receiving a letter from Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi, which was signed by more than 160 politicians from different parties, including Jeremy Corbyn, Lord Kinnock, and Nigel Farage. England’s second match of the tournament is scheduled for February 26 in Lahore against Afghanistan.
In the letter, Antoniazzi expresses concerns about “sex apartheid” and the “insidious dystopia” in Afghanistan, where women’s sports have been essentially banned since the Taliban took back power in 2021. Only at ICC global events had the men’s cricket team faced England twice throughout this time, with their most recent match at the 2023 ODI World Cup ending in a historic triumph.
“We strongly urge the England men’s team players and officials to speak out against the horrific treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan under the Taliban,” the letter went on, with Gould as the recipient.
In order to make it abundantly evident that such heinous abuses will not be accepted, we also implore the ECB to think about boycotting the forthcoming game against Afghanistan. We urge the ECB to send Afghan women and girls a strong message of sympathy and hope that their suffering has not gone unnoticed, as we must oppose sex apartheid.”
The predicament is similar to that which faced England’s cricket players during the 2003 World Cup, when Nasser Hussain’s team was urged to boycott their match against Zimbabwe, then coached by Robert Mugabe. The players ultimately made the decision, and it cost them points, preventing them from qualifying for the tournament’s final stages.
