Institutional Imbalance: Does Sport Forgive All?

Never are discussions so hotly debated as on a Whatsapp group. Today the dispute centred on England cricketer Ben Stokes, who was on trial for affray charges. Outside a Bristol nightclub, Stokes had been caught on CCTV punching and kicking two men who, according to the cricketer, had been mocking a gay couple. While the trial was ongoing, I posited to the group that the public would view Stokes favourably even if he was found guilty, to which my former flat mate, Freddie, responded with a percipient remark: ‘Sport forgives all’. This provoked a fiery barrage of ‘what-ifs’…