Ashley Giles to back Joe Root if he stops the game in case of racial abuse to any England player during Ashes

England and Australia are all set to lock horns in the high-profile Ashes, commencing from December 08. In the build-up to the much-awaited series, it has been reported that Joe Root and company might bring any of the Test matches to an abrupt break if any of the players of the visiting party is subjected to racial abuse or any other form of abuse by the Australian crowd.

It has to be noted that England’s managing director Ashley Giles has given a free hand to Joe Root to take this big decision in case the high-spirited crowd of Australia crosses any line. It is clear from Giles’ end that no form of racism would be accepted in the series.

“We know crowds can be lively there. I’ve experienced that myself as a player. But it’s important to say from the start there is no room for discrimination in our game,” said Ashley Giles as quoted by Daily Mail.

“I’d certainly trust Joe Root to do what’s right. If he chose to bring the team into the middle of the field and stop the game while any incident is investigated then absolutely. I don’t think any of our players should be subject to any abuse actually but discrimination and racism particularly.”

If we don’t give people the chance to rehabilitate, then I think we’ve got a problem: Giles

Giles further stated that ever since Azeem Rafiq’s racism case has come to the light, there has been a lot of talks around the topic and English players in the Ashes squad have also reflected on the same. Adding his views, he stated that racism and discrimination should be clearly unacceptable but not providing a second chance to the guilty person to correct himself isn’t correct. Former England skipper Michael Vaughan was even alleged of passing racist remarks on Asian players by Rafiq.

“If zero tolerance means there is no acceptance of racism and discrimination, absolutely, that’s completely right. But for me, if zero tolerance means that we cut people off, we don’t give second chances, we don’t give people the chance to rehabilitate, then I think we’ve got a problem,” he concluded.