A report on racism in Scottish cricket, carried out by equality and diversity group Plan4Sport, has found the governance and leadership of the sport to be institutionally racist. Commissioned by Sportscotland last year, the review highlighted 448 examples that demonstrated institutional racism. An anonymous survey was carried out as part of the review, with 62% of those who responded saying they had experienced, seen or had reported to them incidents of racism, inequalities or discrimination.
The report found:
- A lack of any equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) or anti-racist training in place for board, staff, volunteers, players, coaches or umpires;
- No consistent mechanism or process for handling racist incidents;
- A lack of diversity from board level to coaching;
- Lack of transparency in the selection process in the talent pathway and the absence of a single uniform approach to selection.
Responding to the report, Jamie Stone, Liberal Democrat MP for the Far North and Sports spokesperson commented:
"It's a first step that the Cricket Scotland board has resigned, but that is truly the bare minimum. A great power of work must be done to repair the damage done to ethnic minority players and fans. The Scottish Government has a responsibility to intervene and support the anti-racist work that will be necessary going forward.
"Cricket has long been considered a distinctively 'British' sport. But it cannot remain on that pedestal whilst those in governance and leadership roles actively work to sterilise the sport of distinctively British diversity. We will know the work is done when the sport is once again considered welcoming, accessible, and something to be proud of."
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