The governance and leadership practices of Cricket Scotland have been institutionally racist: Review

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 said on Monday.

The study confirmed there were 448 examples that demonstrated institutional racism, with 62% 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 last year and over the course of the last few months the body engaged with over 1,000 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.

“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.

(Reuters)