The governance and leadership practices of Cricket Scotland have been found to be “institutionally racist”, the organisation leading the independent review of the governing body has revealed.
The study confirmed there were 448 examples that demonstrated institutional racism, with 62 per cent of survey respondents saying they had experienced, seen or had reported to them incidents of racism, inequalities or discrimination.
Plan4Sport, commissioned by SportScotland, was tasked with leading the review in December and over the course of the past few months the body engaged with more than 1000 people at all levels of Scottish cricket.
“Our view is clear: The governance and leadership practices of Cricket Scotland have been institutionally racist,” Louise Tideswell, managing director of Plan4Sport, said in a statement.
“Over the review period we have seen the bravery of so many people coming forward to share their stories which had clearly impacted on their lives.
An independent review into Cricket Scotland found 68 individual complaints resulting in referrals and "31 of those are allegations that relate to racism, against 15 people, one Regional Association and two clubs".https://t.co/FjPlJQfMBz
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“The reality is that the leadership of the organisation failed to see the problems and, in failing to do so, enabled a culture of racially aggravated micro-aggressions to develop.
“It didn’t address the lack of diversity at board and staff level and missed the need to develop transparent reporting, investigation and case management processes to address incidents of racism and discrimination.”
The board of Cricket Scotland had apologised and resigned on Sunday, a day before the report was published, citing that the resolution of issues and overhaul required was “unachievable” within the proposed timescale.
The review was commissioned after allegations were made by one of the country’s all-time leading wicket-takers, Majid Haq, who said Cricket Scotland was “institutionally racist”.
Haq’s former teammate Qasim Sheikh also spoke out about abuse he had suffered, with both players saying they were treated differently due to the colour of their skin.
Other findings included a lack of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) or anti-racist training for board, staff, volunteers, players, coaches or umpires as well as no mechanism in place for handling racist incidents.
The review added that those who raised issues were “sidelined and ignored”.
One of the recommendations said Cricket Scotland must be placed in “special measures” by SportScotland until at least October 2023 and new board members be appointed no later than September 30 this year.
-Reuters