Lee Chin 'felt sorry' for the man who racially abused him
Lee Chin of Wexford, right, watches from the bench during the Allianz Hurling League game against Clare. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
Lee Chin felt sympathy for the man who racially abused him during a charity hurling game between Wexford and Tipperary last year. That is why he has not spoken about the incident until now.
The Wexford captain, whose father is from Malaysia, received an apology from the man, and exchanged phone calls with him.
"There was a part of me at the time that felt sorry for him as well," Chin said at the Leinster SHC launch earlier this month, "he has a family of his own and what happened was unfortunate but sometimes things are said in the heat of the moment and they're not intentionally meant with any great malice.
"I had sympathy for him and his family at the time and still do but I think he's very sorry for what happened on the day and we did have conversations since and things are smooth and I hope he's doing well.
"There probably was a time I was going to talk about it but there's probably never a right or wrong time either and last year I just kind of let it flow over me because it was just a time that I wanted to let it slide for the minute.
"He was going through an awful [lot] at the time as well, obviously with the fact that what he said, he was getting heat from it too and I just didn't think it would have helped with me coming out and having a go everywhere as well.
"I was quite conscious of him. I genuinely was, even my family were. We would be that way inclined at home and we were conscious of his feelings and how things can end up for him. I remember the phone call I had with him and he was very sorrowful and he couldn't apologise anymore.
"We had good conversations and I left the phone call wishing him well and letting him know that I had no hard feelings towards him and stuff, things like that I hope were helpful towards him."
Outside of hurling, Chin says "not a whole lot has changed from when I was younger to now", and that racially related abuse "still tends to happen". He would "absolutely" be willing to act as a sounding board for anyone who has experienced racist abuse.
"Those things are disappointing to hear but it's not something that I can control," he said.
"Obviously, speaking about it does help and there's probably a lot of other people out there that experience it a lot more than I do and then there's probably people out there that don't experience it at all. You kind of have to try and be there for the people that maybe are experiencing it and maybe don't know what to do.
"I'd be open to anybody if there were in a place in their life where they felt they needed that support, I'd absolutely be there for them if they wanted to chat or talk about it. I'm not sure if I've experienced it all but I've experienced some level of it to some degree.
"When I was younger, I would have been in that frame of mind at times where I was seeking support myself but as I've gotten older, I've dealt with it a lot better. My reactions to it are a lot better, how I suffer from it are much better.
"But some people just mightn't be at that stage of their life yet and they mightn't be able to deal with it like I can at the moment, I'd be there as an element of support if anyone ever needed it of course."
Chin now works for Clearwater Construction, a company which specialises in the installation of astroturf pitches.
"I'm on the road and you're dealing with a lot of clubs and a lot of club committees," he said.
"You have to remember that a lot of these guys in these clubs only give 10% of their time to this one project, not to their club but to this one project in their club and it might be a bit of evening work involved to get to them because of their normal day job. You kind of work around them too."
Wexford open their Leinster SHC campaign against Dublin on Sunday. They do so on the back of a positive Allianz Hurling League campaign which saw them win one game and draw three, their only defeat being to Cork. It was enough to secure a place in the top tier for next year.
Chin feels that having Wexford man Keith Rossiter in charge has made a difference to the team.
"I had the pleasure of playing with him for two years before he retired," Chin said.
"He's a great guy and we're really enjoying our time with him at the moment but when I suppose they are wanting to talk about Wexford history or those type of subjects, it's coming from a place of experience and a man that's been there.
"Being a fellow Wexford man, I suppose it might hit a bit deeper at times. All of that kind of stuff can be subtly different and I suppose that he knows the lay of the land in Wexford, knows the players, knows the clubs, all those things are somewhat of a bonus."
It's five years since Wexford last won the Leinster title, a campaign which saw them narrowly lose to eventual champions Tipperary in an All-Ireland semi-final. Chin believes this team is capable to claiming provincial honours this season.
"I think we are in a good spot at the moment in terms of what we have shown that we are doing so far," he said.
“Look, we won a Walsh Cup. We had relatively consistent performances throughout our National League and our training is going really well.
“There are lads returning from injury. There are young lads after being introduced to the panel that got a lot of game time throughout the National League.
“There were lads that were away, the likes of Liam Og McGovern, Matthew O’Hanlon that came back into the panel after being abroad travelling.
“And those things just lift everything as they go on. The camp is in a good mood at the moment."
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