Yorkshire captain ordered to attend anger management course
Andrew Gale. Image courtesy: Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale has been ordered to attend an anger management course after exchanging words with Lancashire batsman Ashwell Prince.
Gale already missed the final two games of the season for “using language or gesture that is obscene or of a serious insulting nature.”
However, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) referred the matter to the Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC), which imposed another suspension and ordered Gale to attend an anger management course.
On 3 September, Gale and Prince exchanged words in a match at Old Trafford as Yorkshire pushed for a victory in the championship race.
Gale was close to Prince who is alleged to have told him to “f*** off back to cover point,” to which Gale responded by saying “Well you can f*** off back to your own country you Kolpak f*****.”
‘Kolpak’ players are cricketers born outside this country but able to play in England as non-overseas players.
On 11 September, Gale was charged by the ECB with breaching ECB Directive 3.2 (failing to “conduct himself fairly and properly on the field”) and ECB Directive 3.3 (conducting himself in a manner which “may be prejudicial to the interests of cricket or which may bring the ECB, the game of cricket or any cricketer or group of cricketers into disrepute”).
A CDC statement said Gale’s words “caused offence and/or may be perceived as discriminatory as a result of the reference to the nationality of the person to whom they were made.”
It continued: “He acknowledges and deeply regrets that the words he used caused any offence and, in particular, that they could have caused offence as a result of the reference to the nationality of the person to whom they were made.
“Mr Gale wishes to express that this was absolutely not his intention.”
In an interview with South African radio following the incident, Prince said he was offended by Gale’s comments but did not regard them as a “racial slur”.
Gale will miss next season’s curtain-raiser against the MCC and Yorkshire’s opening County Championship game.
