SportSport & Entertainment

Controversial Zim Cricketer Mark Vemeulen Banned From Cricket For Calling Black Zimbabweans Apes

Controversial Zimbabwean cricketer Mark Vermeulen has been banned from any cricket activities for making racist comments on black Zimbabweans.

mark1

This came after fellow cricketer Prosper Utseya laid a complaint to Zimbabwe Cricket concerning the racism in Zim cricket.  Vermeulen reportedly commented on a post about Utseya’s letter where he called black Zimbabweans apes.

“White people have fxxxd up the apes’ lives. If we… had never educated them, Prosper wouldn’t be having these problems”, read the comment Vermeulen reportedly left on the post.

The 36 year old now ex cricketer has since issued a public statement and said he apologized to Utseya in person who “accepted his apology”.

“I know my comments were over the top and I apologize to all that I have offended, but as a cricketer, it’s how our minds work… It was not meant in a menacing way. It was just a chirp that often happens out on the field of play and as men, you take the blow on the chin and get on with the game”, he said in a statement.

The Zim Cricket board put out a statement saying, “We find Vermeulen’s Facebook comment distasteful and unacceptable, particularly for a senior sportsman who should have learnt from playing in Zimbabwe and abroad that there is no place for racism in sport, more so on the field of play where one may have team mates and therefore colleagues of different races.”

This is not the first time Vermeulen has come under fire for his behavior. In 2006 he plead guilty to burning down Zimbabwe’s cricket academy but was acquitted on the grounds of mental illness.

Related Articles

Back to top button