Cricket, racism and social media

If cricket's imperialist roots ensured 'race' has been at the heart of its often culturally problematic discourse, and contemporarily evolving issues such as Islamophobia have been further stirred by the rise of the game in South Asia, social media offers an unprecedented platform for the dangerous public distillation of ensuing tensions. In this chapter, focusing mainly on Twitter, the authors examine how ignorance, immediacy and universality are combining to blight cricket's social media landscape.