Cricketers to receive educational training to stamp out racism

The Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) is to introduce workshops from March that will be delivered to all first-class counties (men’s and women’s teams) and the England men’s and women’s squads, after the PCA surveyed more than 600 current and former players on race and diversity, only 173 of whom bothered to respond.

Of the 23 players who said that they had experienced racism, with the PCA contacting all current male and female professionals, along with Academy players and players who have left the sport in the last two years, 12 are BAME (10 of whom are current pros, roughly 40 per cent of BAME players in the professional game).

Eleven players identifying as white or Caucasian also said that they had experienced racism, eight of whom are current pros.

Of those who have experienced or witnessed racism, 45 per cent said that it had come from another player, often dressed up as “banter”, suggesting that greater education is key.

Workshops on “cultural differences” and “unconscious bias” will be rolled out throughout the year, with the PCA having last summer created an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) working group to look at racial discrimination in the game.

Yorkshire – themselves facing a charge of institutional racism levelled by their former player, Azeem Rafiq – have welcomed the PCA initiative, saying “the game of cricket has begun an important conversation”. The investigation into Rafiq’s specific allegations is ongoing and there is no update on its likely conclusion.

Rafiq’s is one of several high-profile racial cases that have hit the game in recent times, with former Yorkshire wicketkeeper Ismail Dawood and John Holder suing the England and Wales Cricket Board after claiming they experienced racial discrimination as umpires.

Last summer, former England batsman Michael Carberry said racism is rife in cricket, while Glamorgan have been accused of it by former players Mohsin Arif and Imran Hassan.

The line between racism and banter, one that the education programme hopes to elucidate, is highlighted by the fact that although 50 per cent of those surveyed disagreed that there is an issue of racism in professional cricket, 36 per cent were still unsure.

The other main sources of racism highlighted by those claiming to be on the receiving end of it were from fans (23 per cent) and social media (16 per cent).

Fifty-five per cent of respondents were uncertain about the correct procedure for reporting racism, including 15 PCA members who claimed they did not know how to report what they experienced or witnessed.

The PCA attributed the poor response to its survey to “nervousness, sometimes, talking about these issues” but stressed that many verbal conversations had taken place separately with players, inspired by the murder of George Floyd in America and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Rob Lynch, the PCA chief executive, said: “Racism in the game is unacceptable and the game needs to take action.

“Players have asked for education and clarity on the reporting of discriminatory behaviours and for the development of a code of conduct, which we will deliver on this year. We will continue to work with the ECB and other key stakeholders in this area to do more, and simply be better.”

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