Stand by my point that racial abuse is unacceptable, states Jofra Archer

After being ousted from the England squad for the second Test versus the Windies for breaching biosecurity protocols, England pacer Jofra Archer, ahead of the third Test, last week, revealed that he was subject to racist abuse on social media platforms Twitter and Instagram. Archer, who was handed a hefty fine by the ECB for his callous actions, had revealed that the abuse put him in a bad mental place and added that he had forwarded official complaints to the English board regarding the vile comments he was subject to. 

The pacer’s comments drew him support from all over the world and he even went on to play the third Test after isolating himself from the squad for five days. Now, a week later, the speedster has restated his stance on the issue. In his column for the Daily Mail, on Friday, the 25-year-old insisted that there was no place for racism anywhere in life and termed the racial abuse he received ‘unacceptable’. 

"A lot was made of my comments about social media after the last Test and it goes without saying that I stand by my point about the unacceptable nature of racial abuse. There’s never any place for it in any walk of life," Archer wrote in his column for the Daily Mail.

The Barbados-born pacer, however, admitted that it was necessary for him to not pay attention to the other criticism that come his way - including cricket related ones. Ahead of the third Test, the speedster came under fire from former England skipper Michael Vaughan, who said that Archer, being a superstar, should learn to turn a deaf ear to cricket-related criticism that comes his way. 

"But I also accept that, in terms of some of the other criticism that was aimed at me — about my cricket, say — I have to make sure I don’t let it bother me as much as I have done.

"Sometimes, you’ve just got to get on with it. People will say what they want to say on social media, and there’s not a lot you can do about it,” the speedster further wrote. 

On Thursday, Archer’s teammate Moeen Ali wrote a column on the Guardian lending his support the youngster, where he also stated that no player should have to endure the kind of racist abuse Archer was subject to, and the 25-year-old heaped praise on the off-spinner and thanked him for the support. Archer said that Ali always had a ‘comforting presence’ in the dressing room and stated that he was glad that the all-rounder was named vice-captain for England’s ODI series versus Ireland.

"It was nice to hear about a column Moeen Ali had written, in which he expressed his support for me over some of the treatment I’d received. He’s a really good guy and he made my transition into the team a lot easier when I first played international cricket last year.

"It wasn’t anything he said in the dressing room that eased my way in. It was just his presence, which was very comforting. He’s that kind of a person and I’m pleased to see England have made him vice-captain for the one-day series against Ireland."