West Indies great Michael Holding has expressed scepticism over Quinton de Kock’s apology for his refusal to take a knee but says he will give the player the “benefit of the doubt”.
De Kock said he will comply with Cricket South Africa’s directive to make the anti-racism gesture alongside his Proteas teammates if selected for another match, with South Africa’s next game is against Sri Lanka on tonight (AEDT).
Holding described de Kock’s refusal to take the knee as “dumb” and labelled his apology “confusing” because it failed to address why the wicketkeeper decided against taking a knee if he agreed with the purpose of it.
De Kock expressed frustration with how the decision to take a knee was thrusted upon the players so close to a game. Cricket South Africa has welcomed de Kock’s apology, and he will now take a knee with teammates. But Holding said the gesture is now clouded.
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“Has he now come to the realisation that what people are trying to do is real and worthwhile supporting or did he not know what the gesture was or what people were trying to do? What was it?” Holding told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. “This thing has been going on for months. This is not a new thing.
“There’s a worldwide movement going on. The entire world has accepted a specific gesture, a specific action of supporting that movement. You are going to take it upon yourself to then think I can support it another way?
“For me, it is a very simple matter. If there is an action supporting a particular movement, and you believe in that movement you take the action. If you do not believe in that movement you do not take the action.”
De Kock highlighted his mixed race family in his apology but Holding said that argument isn’t full proof because people’s attitudes don’t always align with their family history. He said taking part in the protest is one thing, however, de Kock will now ultimately be judged by what he does in the community.
“His actions down the road will tell us yes or no. It’s not something you can hide. You can’t hide your feelings about your situation forever,” Holding said.
“That is something people will find out whether you are genuine or not in whatever sphere of life you are dealing with.
“I just know that the action that he took was dumb, it did not look good.”
https://twitter.com/DayDekock/status/1453876470527324160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The cricket player’s half sister, Dalean de Kock, continued her vigorous defence of her sibling in a post on social media which referred to right-wing commentator Andrew Bolt, saying his refusal to take the knee was more about freedom of speech than racism.