‘A critical moment for cricket’: ECB reveals plan to tackle racism

English cricket’s leading bodies have promised a full review of dressing room culture and anonymised recruitment for senior roles as part of a 12-point action plan to address the sport’s ongoing racism scandal.

Described as “a critical moment for cricket” by ECB interim chair Barry O’Brien, England’s governing body pledged GBP25m of strategic funding over five years to implement changes – some of which will be “immediate” while others will be introduced as part of a “review period”.

It will also form a new anti-discrimination unit, within six months, “to ensure that the ECB has the right resources and capabilities to help tackle discrimination”.

”Whilst change is required urgently, we also recognise that sustained action and improvements will be required over months and years if we are to become the most welcoming and diverse sport in the country,” said O’Brien.

“We begin today and will hold ourselves to account at each step of the way.”

Cricket has been engulfed in a racism scandal initially prompted by allegations made by former Yorkshire spinner Azeem Rafiq, who was found to be the victim of “racial harassment and bullying” during his two spells with the county by an independent report.

Nobody at Yorkshire was disciplined and the fallout from that decision led to the resignations of Yorkshire chairman Roger Hutton and chief executive Mark Arthur. Hutton’s replacement Lord Patel set up a whistleblower hotline which was contacted by 36 people in its first week.

Rafiq, 30, also gave evidence to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee, describing English cricket as “institutionally racist”.

The ECB, MCC, the PCA, NCCA Ltd, the First Class Counties, Women’s Regional Hosts and the Recreational County Cricket network jointly developed the new diversity plan “as a game-wide response to discrimination within the game”.

“For cricket truly to ‘connect communities and improve lives’ – our stated aim at the ECB – we must start by accepting that not enough has happened to make our game better, both inside our own walls and across the wider game,” said ECB chief executive Tom Harrison.

“That is the only possible reaction to the powerful testimony of Azeem Rafiq and others in recent weeks.”

ECB’s 12-point plan to tackle racism in cricket

Understanding and educating more

1. Adoption within three months of a standardised approach to reporting, investigating, and responding to complaints, allegations, and whistleblowing across the game.

2. Full promotion of the aims of the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) through proactive engagement with its investigations and recommendations.

3. Ongoing EDI training for all those who work in cricket, including all staff, volunteers, recreational club officials, umpires, directors, and coaches.

Addressing dressing room culture

4. A full review of dressing room culture in all men’s and women’s professional teams, both domestic and international.

5. Delivery of a redesigned programme of player and coach education, addressing any gaps identified through the dressing room review.

Removing barriers in talent pathways

6. Action to aid progress into professional teams of people from diverse backgrounds (especially South Asian, Black and less privileged youngsters) through measures to address i) talent identification and scouting, ii) education and diversity of coaches and iii) targeted support programmes for players from diverse or under-privileged backgrounds.

Creating welcoming environments for all

7. A full-scale review, in advance of the 2022 season, into the detection, enforcement, and sanctions against discriminatory and abusive crowd behaviour at each of our professional cricket grounds.

8. Delivery of plans (tailored to local communities) to ensure professional cricket venues are welcoming to all, including provision of accessible seating, food and beverage offering catering to all faiths and cultures, and the availability of facilities such as multi-faith rooms and alcohol-free zones.

9. Upgraded education in recreational cricket to ensure players, volunteers and coaches understand and champion inclusion and diversity in the game.

Publishing localised EDI Action Plans within six months

The ECB will today publish its 2021-2023 Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Action Plan with clear actions and targets. The ECB will then work with any of its members who do not yet have an EDI plan in place to create (or revise) their own localised version within six months, with actions to include:

10. A commitment to best practice governance with targets for Board diversity (30% female, locally representative ethnicity by April 2022) and plans to increase diversity across the wider organisation.

11. The introduction of fairer recruitment processes through measures including the immediate adoption of anonymised recruitment tools for senior roles, open appointment processes for all roles and the use of balanced and diverse panels to assess interviews.

12. Every senior executive employed across the game will have personal EDI objectives as part of their annual performance targets, driving leadership accountability.