Cricket Scotland branded ‘tone deaf and arrogant’ after governance review of institutional racism in sport

Cricket Scotland’s handling of allegations of institutional racism has been described as “deaf and arrogant” as the board continues to face criticism for its approach to the problem.

The sport was rocked last year by a report that found 448 examples demonstrating institutional racism, with the entire board resigning ahead of publication and being replaced by a new chairman, Anjan Luthra, and interim chief executive Gordon Arthur, who was appointed to oversee a complete reform of the organization and its practices.

On the day Arthur announced he was stepping down for family reasons, Cricket Scotland have issued an update on the top-down changes it has made to the sport, with the new governance review claiming that in the organisation Significant progress has been made, particularly with regard to equality, diversity and inclusion, and cited the establishment of a Diversity Working Group as a step forward.

These claims by the Cricket Scotland chairman have been disputed by an anti-racism group which helped investigate specific cases last year and which supported the findings of the first inquiry.

A statement from Running Out Racism said the sport’s governing body is at risk of repeating mistakes and is threatening to undo the good work already done to combat the problems in sport.

It read: “Today’s release from Cricket Scotland has given a significant blow to confidence and demonstrated the failure of the governing body to learn from past mistakes. To address the issues in sports, they need to engage meaningfully with people. Not just Running Out Racism, but the wider cricket community.

“Today’s release contradicts that. It’s deaf and arrogant.

“To say that they have significantly improved our EDI approach is baseless nonsense. Unless this major upgrade relates to ticking boxes as opposed to the previous strategy of ignoring the issue. They continue to ignore the very people who have been ignored for so long.

“To cite the EDI working group as an achievement is frankly embarrassing. At the first meeting in January, formed after five months of tinkering, some members of the group expressed significant concerns about the governing body’s intention to engage meaningfully with people who have expertise in the field.

“The governing body then issued a positive update, which was surprising to some who attended the same meeting, and subsequently ignored the group. None of today’s changes made it to this group for consultation. A group that took five months to form and has only met once.”

Running Out Racism said they have repeatedly tried to raise concerns and are “tired of campaigning for public change without result”. They accused Cricket Scotland of having no real interest in solving deep-rooted problems but simply working to get out of the ‘extraordinary measures’ and move on.

“This is not a change,” the statement said. “It’s more like the same arrogant bad practice and lack of time spent understanding problems.

This criticism was echoed by lawyer Aamer Anwar, who represented whistleblowers Majid Haq and Qasim Sheikh when they first raised the issue of racism in Scottish cricket.

Anwar said: “Despite the horrific exposure of institutional racism, Cricket Scotland today shows with its empty soundbites that it remains unfit for purpose.

“Both Majid Haq and Qasim Sheikh are saddened by the resignation of Chief Executive Officer Gordon Arthur. He was a man who really fought for change.

“My clients, both Majid and Qasim, believe that the chair has failed to create or inspire genuine confidence across the sport and view the process as little more than an ‘arrogant exercise in ticking cosmetic boxes’.

“It is time Sport Scotland took special action. The only winners today are institutional racism and the dinosaurs, which now seem even more entrenched.”

A Sportscotland spokesman said: “We are looking into the various points that have been raised in the latest update from Cricket Scotland. We welcome the progress made so far, but recognize that only genuine and meaningful advice can bring about cultural change within sport.

“The final decision on whether Cricket Scotland exits the special measures will be taken by Sportscotland and will depend on full compliance with all recommendations in the Changing The Boundaries report.”

Sheikh, whose decision to whistleblowe was instrumental in exposing the problems in sport, was dismayed by the Cricket Scotland review and called for Sportscotland to take action.

“I think it feels like an exercise in ticking boxes,” he told STV. “I find it arrogant and almost sweeping the issues of institutional racism under the rug.

“It is worrying for the current chairman to make this public.

“To my knowledge, other bodies such as Sportscotland and Running Out Racism have not been consulted, so it comes as a bit of a shock to everyone that, on such an important governance review, the Chair feels they have the authority to just publish it without consultation everyone.

“The main point that comes out for me is that it comes across as ‘We have a lot of challenges’ and it seems like ‘It’s a bit too difficult and we can’t do everything.’

“It tries to distract by talking about other achievements. The level of professionalism in women’s football is fantastic, but the problems of institutional racism, as last year showed, are very serious.

“I think Sportscotland have to step in. They fund Cricket Scotland with a lot of public money. They commissioned the (original) review by Plan4 Sport.

“We’ve seen what the issues were and I now think it’s time for them to get more involved and take control of the situation so these issues don’t happen again.”