The Guardian’s Sports Staff, 9 September 2014, http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/sep/08/moen-ali-family-booing-england-india-edgbaston-police, where the title is “Moeen Ali’s family appalled by booing of England player against India”
The family of Moeen Ali have called the booing of the England player at Edgbaston “disgraceful” after a complaint from a spectator resulted in police classing it as a ”non-crime hate-related incident”. An accusation of racially motivated abuse was made by a member of the crowd watching the one-off Twenty20 international between England and India but, after an investigation, the police concluded that no crime had been committed. They are unable to take further action without a complaint from Moeen, who does not want to pursue the matter.
Instead the police have recorded the episode as a “hate-related incident” and suggested they would need more evidence. The spokesman confirmed that police officers did not review TV footage. “If further action was to be taken, the victim would need to make a complaint,” a spokesman for West Midlands police told ESPNcricinfo. “While the booing was perceived by the complainant as being racially motivated, booing is not in itself a crime. Had someone been shouting an offensive term, it would be different.” Continue reading
