Independent review finds Scottish cricket ‘institutionally racist’

Glasgow, July 25

A damning review of Scottish cricket has found that its governing body failed on almost all tests of institutional racism. Independent investigators, completed by Plan4Sport, found 448 indicators of institutional racism and now published the details of their findings and recommended special measures to curb racism in sport.

They found of 31 'tests' used to measure the problem, Cricket Scotland - the game's governing body - failed on 29 and only partially met the required standard on the remaining two.

The entire board of Cricket Scotland on Sunday resigned with immediate effect ahead of the release of a racism report in the sport. The board sent the letter of resignation to the Interim Chief Executive Officer Gordan Arthur on Sunday morning ahead of the report to be published on Monday, coming after multiple allegations of racism and discrimination by players Majid Haq and Qasim Sheikh were made last year.

The report authors were told of a range of examples of racism experienced by participants across all areas of cricket, which led to referrals being made to Police Scotland as hate crimes, as well as Cricket Scotland.

Sixty-eight individual concerns have been referred for further investigation. These include 31 allegations of racism against 15 different people, two clubs and one regional association, reports Sky Sports.

These allegations include racial abuse, the use of inappropriate language, favouritism to young, white children from public schools and a lack of transparent selection process for non-white players. In some cases, multiple concerns have been raised against the same individual.

Investigators said contributors had "clearly witnessed or experienced racism, discrimination and persistent micro-aggressions based on race during their role as a coach, umpire or player".

The review was undertaken following complaints of institutional racism by two Scotland cricket internationals, Majid Haq and Qasim Sheikh, both of whom said the issue had blighted their careers. Their complaints followed a racism scandal surrounding Yorkshire Cricket Club, where former player Azeem Rafiq complained of racism there.

--IANS