As a cricket fan, who tragically supports the England cricket team (yeah, I know – “No Borders, No Nations”, but my love for cricket pre-dates my anarchism) I was pleased to see that Migrant Workers played such a big part in their recent victory in their 20/20 Cricket Cup (the migrant workers, incidentally, scored about 75% of England’s total runs over the tournament). For those of you who have little or no interest in cricket the people who I am talking about are Michael Lumb, Kevin Pietersen, Craig Kieswetter and Eoin Morgan, the first three were born in South Africa, and Morgan in Ireland. Whist Lumb has a family cricketing connection with England – his Dad is a Yorkshireman and played for Yorkshire – Pietersen, Kieswetter and Morgan moved to England long after they had established themselves in their native land as cricketers of note and moved simply play cricket in and for England, to make a better living at it than they could at home.
Unsurprisingly, I have no problem with them playing cricket in and for England. But then neither do I have a problem with anyone moving to England to try and make a living. It’s just a shame that most of the newspapers who so enthusiastically reported England’s victory are not so consistent. For instance, The Daily Star praised Kieswetter “a hero” – hardly in line with their “British Jobs for British Workers” campaign is it ? Again, the Daily Mail seem to conveniently put away their anti-immigrant vitriol saying that they couldn’t have done it “without Pietersen”. Unfortuantley, it’s unlikely that we’ll get an editorial any time soon telling us about the “amazing” or heroic migrants who , for instance, clean the London Underground and fight for workers rights despite being harassed by UKBA.
good point well made.when the nationalists get in a fever about the football world cup,crosses of st george(born in what is now turkey),flying from their cars,i hope the descendants of migrant workers,james,johnson,cole,ferdinand,king,lennon,bent,wright-phillips,walcott,defoe,heskey and im guessing rooney,will be celebrated as a product of england’s historic role as a magnet for migrant workers,where regardles of origin and hostility on arrival, eventually,only your abilities are judged.the demonising of non eu migrants needs to be challenged in every way,be it in the obvious benefits to britains society from migrant labour,too numerous to mention but for example,the nhs would struggle if staffed by people whose parents were born in its hospitals,through pricking the pomposity of the little engerlanders sporting triumphs.now where can we advertise for a decent leg-spinner?