THE England and Wales Cricket Board are opening up a huge can of worms by levelling a racism charge at Yorkshire’s Andrew Gale.

The County Championshipwinning captain has become the first county cricketer to be charged with racism after an altercation with Lancashire’s South African batsman Ashwell Prince at Emirates Old Trafford this month.

Late on the third day of the Roses clash, Gale was angered by Prince’s apparent time wasting as he attempted to minimise the number of overs he and Usman Khawaja would have to face in the home’s side bid to clinch a draw.

It has been reported that Prince said “**** off back to cover point”, with Gale responding with “well you can **** off back to your own country you Kolpak ******”.

With the ECB not having confirmed the charge, it is difficult to know exactly what they see as the issue. If they are unhappy with the use of the word Kolpak, the county game has a major problem.

Kolpak players are non English-born players allowed to play as domestic qualified under EU law and it is not a racial term, only referring to the name of a Slovakian handball player, Maros Kolpak.

Ex-Yorkshire batsman Jacques Rudolph, a South African, was a high profile Kolpak player. Cricket writers, fans and even the ECB use the term Kolpak.

The ECB do not want too many Kolpaks in county cricket, even offering counties financial incentives to field more English players. Is that racist?

If they are unhappy with the ‘get back to your own country’ part, then that could be aimed at anybody from a foreign country. You never know, it could even be aimed at the Scots today.

How many Australians in cricket will have said something similar down the years with the addition of the word Pommie?

Gale has already been banned for the last two matches of this season.

Having had previous, an initial level two charge took him to 12 points and earned him the ban. Now the ECB are expected to increase that charge to level three or four.

A hearing is expected as early as next week, where Yorkshire and Gale will contest the charge.

Gale is scheduled to parade the trophy, pose for photos and take questions in the East Stand Long Room at Headingley between 11.30am and 12.30pm on each day of the Somerset Championship match, starting on Tuesday.

While there is no doubt that there was no racial intent on Gale’s part when reacting to Prince’s antics, it seems the ECB and chairman Giles Clarke are determined to make an example of an easy target nonetheless.

If the ECB find Gale guilty, they are setting a very strict precedent, which could see any verbal exchange between players from opposing countries perceived as racial.