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This article is about British immigration issues. For information about international cricket matches see Test cricket. Test cricket is the longest form of the Sport of Cricket. It has long been considered the ultimate test of playing ability between cricketing nations

The cricket test was a phrase coined by Norman Tebbit in referring to supposedly questionable loyalties of immigrants to the United Kingdom in 1990. Norman Beresford Tebbit Baron Tebbit CH, PC (born 29 March 1931 is a British Conservative politician and former Member of Parliament The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Year 1990 ( MCMXC) was a Common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar) It is also known as the Tebbit test.

During the 1980s and 1990s there was a perception in parts of the UK that some immigrants to the UK did not have a primary loyalty to the UK, but continued to identify with their countries of origin. The most famous expression of this was made by Conservative politician Norman Tebbit in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative and Unionist Party) is a Political party in the United Kingdom. The Los Angeles Times (also known as the LA Times) is a daily Newspaper published in Los Angeles California and distributed He said: "A large proportion of Britain's Asian population fail to pass the cricket test. Cricket is a bat-and-ball team Sport that originated in England and is now played in more than 100 countries Which side do they cheer for? It's an interesting test. Are you still harking back to where you came from or where you are?"[1]

Contents

Criticism

The comments attracted widespread criticism for Tebbit, including allegations of racism, although they also struck a chord with some. List of racism-related topics|Racism by country Racism, by its simplest definition is the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that A cartoon showed a Scotsman, in full kilted regalia, in jail bemoaning "I failed the Tebbit cricket test!".

Other commentators ironically noted that comedy character Alf Garnett had expressed very similar sentiments to those of the cricket test in an episode of the 1960s-1970s sitcom Til Death Us Do Part. Till Death Us Do Part is a British sitcom that aired on BBC1 from 1965 to 1975

Another criticism is that Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own national sports teams for most events, therefore the Scots, Welsh and those from Northern Ireland would not be expected to cheer for England. In fact, most major sports play at the constituent levels, not "Britain" (though Wales is represented by England at cricket, and Scottish players were eligible for England at the time of Tebbit's comment). The SRSM and other nationalist organisations have had T-shirts printed up with the slogan "I failed the English cricket test". The Scottish Republican Socialist Party (SRSP was a political party operating in Scotland. However, Tebbit's argument is essentially that an individual with a strong allegiance to a country outside the UK can never be truly integrated into the indigenous population. This could apply to immigrants and their descendants in any of the UK's constituent nations, yet it acknowledges that the country has always been unusually heterogeneous.

A further line of criticism focuses on whether Norman Tebbit is correct to question the loyalty of ethnic minorities (who do not support the English cricket team) to other, and arguably more important, English institutions such as Government. Norman Beresford Tebbit Baron Tebbit CH, PC (born 29 March 1931 is a British Conservative politician and former Member of Parliament Such criticism has led to suggestions that a more accurate test would be an “army test”; which would question which side an immigrant would fight for in the instance of war breaking out between the country they have immigrated from and to.

In practice

Sajid Mahmood

British born (Bolton, Lancashire) bowler Sajid Mahmood was called "traitor" at a cricket match at Headingley on August 8, 2006 by British citizens of Pakistani descent in the crowd for playing for the England cricket team when they were playing against the Pakistani national team. Bolton ( is a large town in Greater Manchester, in the North West region of England. Sajid Iqbal Mahmood (born 21 December 1981 in Bolton, Greater Manchester) is an English Cricketer of Pakistani Janjua Rajput descent Headingley Stadium is a sporting complex in the Leeds suburb of Headingley in West Yorkshire, England. Events 1220 - Sweden is defeated by Estonian tribes in the Battle of Lihula. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.

Sir Trevor McDonald

Sir Trevor McDonald, the popular Trinidad and Tobago born UK newscaster has admitted to supporting the Trinidad and West Indies cricket teams in late 2005, indicating that this particular idea of Englishness still has current meaning. Sir Trevor McDonald OBE (born George McDonald on 16 August 1939 is a Trinidadian -born British Journalist and Television presenter The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (ˈtrɪnɪdæd ən təˈbeɪgoʊ is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying northeast of the South American The Trinidad and Tobago cricket team is the representative cricket team of the country of Trinidad and Tobago. The West Indian cricket team, also known colloquially as The Windies or The West Indies, is a multi-national Cricket team representing As McDonald is an immigrant to the UK his support for the West Indies is arguably inevitable and irrelevant. The Tebbit Test should probably only be applied to citizens born and raised within the confines of the UK.

References

  1. ^ Howe, D. "Tebbit's loyalty test is dead". in New Statesman (Jul 06). , retrieved from New Statesman on March 29, 2007

External links

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