Cricket Scotland inquiry hears 448 examples of racism

Image source, SNS Group

The governance and leadership of Scottish cricket were found to be racist.

It found that those who raised issues were ignored or side-lined and that a culture of micro-aggression was allowed to grow.

There were 448 examples that showed institutional racism.

After a number of allegations were made, it was commissioned by Sportscotland.

More than half of the people who responded to the survey said they had seen or heard of discrimination.

The review for funding body Sportscotland was carried out by Plan4 Sport.

• 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.

The entire Cricket Scotland board resigned on Sunday in response to the findings of the review.

As a result of the findings, Cricket Scotland's operations have been placed in special measures, which means Sportscotland will take control until October 2023.

A new Cricket Scotland board must be in place by September 2022.

The Western District Cricket Union must complete an independent review of its governance by the end of September in order for special measures to be put in place.

The inquiry was commissioned after allegations of racism and discrimination were made by a leading cricket player.

After being sent home from the World Cup, Mr Haq didn't play again. He was victimised on the basis of race.

Some of the concerns were referred to police in Scotland. There were 31 allegations of racism against 15 different people and two clubs.

A person appeared in court after an incident was reported.

The governance and leadership practices of Cricket Scotland have been institutionally racist according to Plan4Sport.

Louise Tideswell said that her team had seen bravery from so many people who had come forward to share their stories.

"People who have loved cricket and, despite the many knocks, continued to try and make progress, umpires who committed so many hours even though promotion never came, and players who saw or heard racism and hostility, but kept coming back to play."

Ms Tideswell said that by failing to see problems, the leadership of the organisationenabled a culture of racially-aggravated micro-aggressions to develop.

She pointed out that there were many outstanding clubs.

Sportscotland gave more than half a million dollars to Cricket Scotland between the years of 2020 and 2019.

The review promised to provide follow-up support to those who discuss their experiences of racism.

Stewart Harris praised the bravery of participants who came forward and said the findings were "deeply concerning and in some cases shocking".