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FORMER ENGLAND CRICKETER Geoffrey Boycott has said that calls to remove his knighthood over his conviction for domestic violence have “soured” the experience for him.
Domestic abuse charities in the UK have called for Boycott not to be awarded the honour because of the conviction, which he received for assaulting an ex-girlfriend in 1998.
Boycott – who played for England between 1964 and 1982 – was fined 50,000 francs and given a three-month suspended prison sentence after being convicted of assaulting Margaret Moore at a hotel in France in 1998.
According to BBC, a trial heard that Boycott pinned Moore down in a hotel room and punched her in the face 20 times before checking out and leaving her to pay the bill.
Boycott has always denied the charges, and during the trial claimed that Moore slipped after flying into a rage when he refused to marry her.
He also claimed that he left the hotel after “becoming sick and tired” of telling Moore that he would not marry her.
Boycott was put forward for a knighthood by former Prime Minister Theresa May in her resignation honours list this week.
The 78-year-old was nominated for services to sport after amassing 8,114 Test runs at an average of 47.72 during his 18-year England career.
Following his nomination, domestic violence campaigners said that bestowing him with the honour would sent out a dangerous message to survivors of domestic abuse.
During an interview with BBC Radio 4′s Today programme, Women’s Aid’s co-acting chief executive Adina Claire said that the honour “should be taken away” from Boycott.
Boycott told the same programme that he “couldn’t give a toss” about Claire and that his conviction happened 25 years ago, while also claiming that Moore had brought the case in an attempt to blackmail him for £1,000,000.
Many felt his comments were an indication that he did not care about domestic violence.
In a subsequent interview with BBC, Boycott said his knighthood had should have been one of the nicest days of his life, but that the experience was “soured” by BBC Radio 4 because the station had sought to “make publicity” out of his conviction.
“When I went on, this lady interviewer started on about my case in France that happened over nearly 25 years ago… I answered it the best I could,” he said.
“And then she wanted to go on to get a woman on to talk about domestic violence, the chief executive of [Women's Aid].
“I said: ‘Hang on I don’t give a toss about her [Women's Aid co-leader Adina Claire] love.’ I didn’t say: ‘I don’t give a toss about domestic violence’, because that’s very important.”
When challenged by the interviewer that his comments made it appear that he didn’t care about domestic violence, Boycott said:
You only make it out if you want to lie and distort it. Go and read the words. I’ve watched it two or three times.
Boycott is one of 57 people to be nominated for honours by Theresa May following her departure from 10 Downing Street, something every prime minister can do when they step down.
He is one of May’s sporting heroes and the former British Prime Minister spoke of her admiration for his style of play on several occasions.
May, who stepped down as Prime Minister earlier this year, previously said that she had baked Boycott a batch of chocolate brownies and joked that the former Yorkshire batsman still had the Tupperware box she delivered them in.
During Brexit negotiations last year, she also paid tribute to Boycott while defending her stance during a tough negotiating period.
“Can I just say that you might recall from previous comments I have made about cricket that one of my cricket heroes was always Geoffrey Boycott,” she said.
“And what did you know about Geoffrey Boycott? Geoffrey Boycott stuck to it and he got the runs in the end.”
In his interview with BBC Radio 4 following his nomination, Boycott spoke of his support for Brexit, suggesting that the circumstances surrounding his conviction were a factor in him voting for Britain to leave the European Union during the 2016 Brexit referendum.
“It’s a court case in France where you’re guilty, which is one reason I don’t vote to remain in Europe,” he said.
“You’re guilty until you’re proven innocent, that’s totally the opposite to England… most people in England don’t believe it.”
The row over Boycott’s nomination for a knighthood is not the first time the former cricketer has attracted controversy over the UK’s honours list.
In 2017, he was forced to apologise after joking that he would have to “black up” to receive a knighthood, pointing out that the honour had been bestowed on West Indian cricketers including Viv Richards, Garfield Sobers and Curtly Ambrose.
With reporting from - © AFP 2019.
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One unintended consequence of Brexit is that dozens of English news stories keep wandering across the pond.
That, or there’s a Journal.co.uk and I’ve accidentally found my way onto it…
@jamesdecay:
and accurate reporting would help.
“In his interview with BBC Radio 4 following his nomination, Moore spoke of his support for Brexit…”
That should be Boycott, unless Moore has since become a man and took over from Boycott in the interview.
@The Quare Fella: I’m going to give the UK Journal some leeway. They must be terribly overworked and understaffed…
It happened 21 years ago, he was punished by the courts. Move on..
@Paul O’Sullivan: yes move on…. and don’t honour the man with a knighthood… leave him in the shadows where he belongs
@Paul O’Sullivan: eh, the reason for his knighthood is also quite a long time ago. Even further back actually. Makes your argument a bit redundant.
@Dave O’Keeffe: I couldn’t give a flying f#£k if he got a knighthood. My argument is a third party interfering in a man’s life
@Paul O’Sullivan: as a 3rd party if very much sounds like he interfered in his victims life
@Paul O’Sullivan: You didn’t think this all the way through huh? Shocker.
“…Boycott pinned Moore down in a hotel room and punched her in the face 20 times before checking out and leaving her to pay the bill.”
@Smidgen Dublin: horrific
@Rebecca De Stanleigh: It would be if it were true. It’s difficult to prove you’re innocent when you’ve someone trying to blackmail you.
I give him the benefit of the doubt.
@bopter: I give her the benefit of the doubt based on the photos of her injuries produced in court evidence.
@bopter: He was convicted in a French court of law. And the excuse that in France you are guilty until proven innocent is both feeble and untrue; they also have the presumption of innocence. The only proof of her alleged blackmail is him whinging about it while calling a female BBC interviewer ‘love’.
@Smidgen Dublin: That was Moore’s testimony which Boycott has always refuted.
It’s a fact that this woman was in severe financial difficulties at the time and Boycott alleged that she was trying to blackmail him for £1 million.
Apart from this incident Boycott has no history of violence or abuse whatsoever. That doesn’t mean he’s innocent but the violence described in this case would point to a man incapable of holding his temper.
Finally, the French justice system is weighted in favour of the alleged victim. Innocent until proven guilty does not apply under the Napoleonic code (as far as I’m aware, that could have changed over time).
@Will: Scratch that last bit, a common misconception apparently that would be superseded by the UN declaration on Human Rights anyway.
@Will: What’s ails you? I feel sorry for you. You can’t beat a woman. Ever.
@Smidgen Dublin: Really, ever? You see a women beating your child you do nothing? A woman is beating your elderly parent? Your wife? A gang of women beating a man to death? Any defenseless being being beaten by a woman? The Woman is 6ft and 21 stone and man 5ft2 and 10 stone and she is beating him he should just take it?
@Craic_a_tower: What’s wrong with you? Why is meeting violence with violence the only resolution you see here?
@Will: I guess Will is a woman beater going by his defense of this guy.
@Craic_a_tower: you sure have a lot of fantasies about beating woman.
@Smidgen Dublin: Why are you exaggerating and suggesting women are always weak and physical intervention should never happen. If you saw a man beating a women would you not physically intervene? Are you saying you would just politely ask him to stop? I never said anything about being violent I asked you what you would do and you didn’t answer
@Craic_a_tower: I suggested nothing of the sort about women. No-one has to answer you.
@Smidgen Dublin: Well you said no man should beat a women ever why? Regardless of gender physically intervention may be required. If you don’t want to answer then don’t answer at all. Nice to have an opinion if you never have to explain it but state to everybody else.
@Craic_a_tower: Yes it is. Thank you.
Beats me why anyone deserves a Knighthood for playing Cricket. Also Theresa May might have been better to err on the side of caution and leave him out. Just make him another tin of buns Theresa.
@Aine O Connor: Chocolate Brownies to be precise.
@Aine O Connor: who, he beats you?
@Aine O Connor: You don’t think Sir Richard Hadlee deserved a knighthood?!
Two lovely black eyes
O what a surprise
Only for telling a man he was wrong
Two lovely black eyes
Song by charles coburn
1910
Puts the ‘false accusations ruin lives’ shite into perspective when you see that even a conviction doesn’t do anything to this pr**k.
Everyone, let’s boycott boycott!!!
On the one hand, he punched a woman in the face twenty times. But on the other hand, he ran up and down on a cricket field a lot. So, you know, two sides.
And I genuinely thought that stuff like domestic abuse is a requirement for knighthood.
have your say