Essex club on Racism Report: "My main hope is that everyone feels they can take part in cricket"
Local Essex club shares hopes for the sport after a newly published report on racism
Last updated 14th Jan 2022
A local Essex cricket club has welcomed a new report from MP's that's found there's 'deep-seated' racism within cricket.
The report follows player Azeem Rafiq's testimony about the racist abuse he suffered during his time playing for Yorkshire cricket club. It follows allegations made by former Yorkshire player Azeem Rafiq, which has led to a huge shake-up.
Alistair Graham, secretary of Hadleigh and Thundersley Cricket Club, welcomes the report:
"It's quite sad how cricket is in the national spotlight for all the wrong reasons... my main hope is that everyone feels they can take part in cricket and do so in a safe and welcoming environment."
"When we talk about racism there’s a tendency to be a little bit defensive about accusations and things like that, but it’s better to have those honest, open conversation and actually change things with action, to create that welcoming culture and make sure it stays that way.”
He also said the sport must try to be more inclusive, and that his club were already taking steps:
"One of our big goals over the next next few years is to get to the women's cricket team really well established and a leader in that field in the local area."
"More generally, we always try and keep our membership subscriptions as low as possible, recognising that people from lower socio-economic background will also want to take part in cricket and we should make that as easy as possible... to help our players, particularly youth players who are wanting to start in the game... we’re trying to make it as broad a church as we can within our club.”
Their strategies appear to be working, as Mr Graham reports they have "at least 125 youth members and it's growing every year."
What did the report say?
- The committee were "convinced" by Azeem Rafiq's "moving evidence" about the racial abuse he suffered across two spells at Yorkshire and his conviction that this was not just something he had experienced personally but which was an "endemic problem across the whole of cricket".
- The language used in correspondence received by committee members subsequent to Rafiq's testimony, and the attempts to "discredit" Rafiq in the media, demonstrated to the committee that there was a "deep seated" issue with racism in cricket.
- The committee said future public funding for cricket should be dependent on "continuous, demonstrable progress" in getting rid of racism.
- The committee recommended that the ECB should develop a set of key indicators to measure their progress, and update the committee on their progress against those indicators on a quarterly basis.
Yorkshire and the ECB were invited to give evidence to the committee on progress they have made in early 2022.
In response to the report, new Chairman of Yorkshire County Cricket Club, Lord Patel said: "We welcome the select committee's call for demonstrable action to rid our sport of racism and discrimination. Azeem Rafiq's testimony was a watershed moment for the sport as a whole, and we are committed to ensuring that no-one endures the unacceptable experience that he did at Yorkshire County Cricket Club.
"In the last two months Yorkshire County Cricket Club has made significant progress in our efforts to rebuild, and I am heartened that the committee considers that there is room for optimism in what we have achieved. We share that optimism and have made some real improvements, but we are only at the start of this long and important journey."