A 20-year-old Sikh tennis fan was thrown out of an overnight queue to watch the Wimbledon tennis championships at the centre court because he “made other people uncomfortable”.
The Sikh tennis-lover voiced his anger at Facebook on being thrown out and claimed it was an act of racism by Wimbledon security.
“Kicked out of the overnight camping line for centre court Wimbledon line ‘because you make some people around you uncomfortable, so we’re gonna have to report you and ask you to leave immediately, sir,” he wrote on Facebook on Friday.
The turbaned Sikh, himself a sportsman wrote further”All I wanted was to peacefully chill and patiently await an opportunity to re-enter the hallowed grounds and see the decorated surface while Roger and Milos scamper and glide across it.
Source: Facebook
“Post-Brexit racism and the overt rise of neo-facism. Please advise how best to report this,” he added.
The sportsman who himself dreams of playing professional tennis was eventually allowed to enter the ground after re-queuing in the line a few hours later and made an official complaint about his treatment.
He told Metro.co.uk: “I felt awful. I felt like I should’ve fought and negotiated but I backed down and silently left. I don’t feel like I’m ever going back now. It’s still one of my favourite tournaments but can no longer definitively say it’s a lifelong dream to play on centre court.”
“While I was in the queue, I befriended other people who were alone and we started talking. None of them gave me the body language that would indicate I should stop talking. I only spoke to people adjacent to me and everyone was fine,” he added
‘It made me think it was very racist, as I was one of three people of colour out of around 120 other people who weren’t ethnic.’
A Wimbledon spokesperson said: “We can confirm that a gentleman was asked to leave the queue at 4.42am this morning (Friday) after a number of complaints from his fellow queuers about his behaviour.”
He has previously been warned about his conduct in The Queue on up to six separate occasions during this year’s Championships.
“We do acknowledge, however, that in this instance the event safety staff could have provided a better explanation to him. Happily, the same person has been in the Grounds today (Friday) watching the tennis,” he said.
But the man insists he did nothing that would warrant being escorted off the grounds, was not intoxicated, loud or aggressive and had not been previously warned about his behaviour.
