The Pakistan Cricket Board and the Abu Dhabi Cricket Club have denied claims of a racial segregation between Pakistani and England fans in the ongoing Test series in the United Arab Emirates.
“No such segregation policy exists and that there were certain areas of the stadium that were only accessible to family groups irrespective of whether they were English or Pakistani. We allocated the West slope for families only and that was strictly enforced for all by the ground stewards. The East slope and all other sections apart from the corporate areas were open to everyone, and if groups or individuals wanted to sit on the grass then the East slope was available to them,” PakPassion quoted a PCB spokesperson, as saying.
The statement comes following allegations that some Pakistani fans were being denied entry to one of the grass banks while all English fans were allowed. Abu Dhabi club’s Chief Executive Dilawar Mani also rejected racism allegations. “I can only assure you in that trying to separate the English fans from Pakistani supporters had absolutely nothing to do with racism. I am disappointed that you would imply that to be the case,” he said.
“You may not be aware that very often, when you find large communities gathering at a stadium, a separation policy is adopted to mitigate confrontation and any threat to either community by an emotionally charged and passionate segment of fans,” he added.
