Cricket test

The cricket test, also known as the Tebbit test, was a controversial phrase coined in April 1990 by the British Conservative politician Norman Tebbit in reference to the perceived lack of loyalty to the England cricket team among South Asian and Caribbean immigrants and their children. Tebbit suggested that those immigrants who support their native countries rather than England at the sport of cricket are not significantly integrated into the United Kingdom.[1]

This article is about immigration, cultural and political issues. For information about international cricket matches, see Test cricket.

Background

Post-war Britain experienced mass migration from the cricket playing countries of the West Indies and South Asia. Ever since, the issue of assimilation and multiculturalism has been a controversial issue in British politics.

Tebbit, in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, said: "A large proportion of Britain's Asian population fail to pass the cricket test. 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?"[2]

Tebbit told Woodrow Wyatt in 1991 that he did not think certain immigrant communities would assimilate "because some of them insist on sticking to their own culture, like the Muslims in Bradford and so forth, and they are extremely dangerous."[3]

Legacy

The phrase "cricket test" and the associated loyalty concepts received a lot of media attention for many months after Tebbit's statement, and have been widely discussed and argued over ever since. Rather than staying culturally separate, immigrants from the Windrush generation said they used cricket to overcome racism, gain acceptance and integrate into British society.[4]

Lord Tebbit later claimed that his test could have prevented the Glasgow International Airport attack and the 2007 London bombs.[5] However, his remarks have been decried by some as ignorant and outdated.[6]

See also

References
  1. "Cricket test could have prevented London terror attacks Archived 2010-06-26 at the Wayback Machine". Politics.co.uk.
  2. Howe, D. "Tebbit's loyalty test is dead". in New Statesman (Jul 06)., retrieved from New Statesman on March 29, 2007
  3. Woodrow Wyatt, The Journals of Woodrow Wyatt. Volume Two (Pan, 2000), p. 530.
  4. "Caribbean Cricket Club, Leeds: How cricket helped Windrush migrants 'integrate'". BBC Sport. 19 July 2020.
  5. Politics.co.uk "Cricket test could have prevented London terror attacks".
  6. "Hindus, the "Tebbit Test" & Terrorism in London". 17 February 2013.
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