Exclusive: Scarborough Cricket Club suspends president Sir Geoffrey Boycott for “gross misconduct”

In response, Boycott told The Yorkshire Post that he had done nothing wrong and was standing up for members’ rights as they look to force a Special General Meeting.

That meeting is being denied to them by the club’s board – which has sent legal letters in response – despite the Scarborough constitution stating that a minimum of 75 members may require an SGM within 21 days.

The names of 91 members – including the current Yorkshire batsman Adam Lyth and the former Yorkshire players Craig White and David Byas – were attached to an official SGM letter on September 9 amid concerns at the way the club is being run.

Boycott, who turned 85 last week, allegedly passed confidential information to Robert Harrison – a former Scarborough player who is one of five men behind the SGM move and looking to form a new board instead, who has also been suspended – after a board meeting held on October 6.

That meeting, conducted virtually on Microsoft Teams, was apparently still being recorded after its conclusion when, as it states in Harrison’s suspension notice, “you were observed (and it is recorded) that Sir Geoffrey Boycott and Lady Boycott telephoned you to provide you with confidential information discussed at board level to which you are not entitled to be party to, nor was Lady Boycott’s attendance at the meeting of the board consented to by the board.

“As recorded, Sir Geoffrey Boycott and Lady Boycott, without any authority from the board, disclosed confidential and commercially sensitive information properly belonging to the club and discussed at board level, including disclosure of the club’s financial information (not yet available for reporting) alongside other matters that had been discussed at that meeting of the board…

“Sir Geoffrey Boycott is recorded informing you that he would share with you a copy of the club’s profit and loss accounts (not yet disclosed to the members) having confirmed to you: ‘I can send you it (the unpublished profit and loss accounts) but you mustn’t let them see it because I’m neutral, Rachael can send it… do you understand?’”

Boycott, who said Rachael had been helping him with technical problems, hence her presence at part of the meeting, is further accused of being involved in a discussion in which Colin Adamson, the club secretary, was to have been “approached and/or enticed to share membership details”.

Boycott and Harrison have been reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) as well as the Cricket Regulator.

With trademark candour, Boycott told The Yorkshire Post on Wednesday that the Scarborough hierarchy “couldn’t run a p*ss-up in a brewery”. He cited the famous entreaty of Sir Oliver Cromwell to the Rump Parliament in 1653 – “in the name of God, go”, adding that they (the board) should let “good members run it instead”.

His suspension comes amid some uncertainty as to whether the Scarborough board is even quorate, with suggestions that Mark Arthur, the former Yorkshire chief executive, has recently stepped down. Boycott said there was only one good person on the board in his view – John Spencer, the main club sponsor, the only one, too, whom Harrison and his colleagues would retain.

Boycott said the rest “don’t like to get their hands dirty” and bemoaned that “the best guy had to resign due to ill-health”, referring to Bill Mustoe, the former president.

“They’re acting illegally,” Boycott added. “At that board meeting, where I was there to oversee procedures and ensure the board were following the rules, we went through so many items until we finally got to the business of these lads asking for a special meeting, which should have been at the top of the agenda. They put in a petition on September 9 and yet, at that October 6 board meeting, nothing had been done, and still hasn’t, so they’re in breach of the rules.

“That’s not right, that’s not fair. It’s a members’ club, and the members have a right to a Special General Meeting. It’s in the constitution but all they’ve done is avoided it and obfuscated, taking it out of the secretary’s hands.”

On Wednesday, Laura Edmunds, the Scarborough chief executive, sent a letter to members in which she made out that the SGM had been delayed because of the situation with Boycott and Harrison.

She stated that it would be “premature to convene an SGM until these matters are concluded”, even though the board meeting in question took place on October 6 – four weeks after the SGM requirement had been made by the members, thus after the 21-day stipulation in the club’s constitution.

“A small group of members has recently submitted a request for a Special General Meeting (SGM), in accordance with the club’s constitution,” she wrote.

"However, during preparations for the SGM, the board identified concerning conduct by individual members and some board members, as well as issues relating to the management of confidential board information.

"These matters, which have the potential to compromise the integrity of any SGM discussions, have been referred to the Cricket Regulator… it would be unfair and inappropriate to provide further details whilst these investigations are ongoing."

Edmunds, who admitted that member communication and engagement had “not met expectations”, also took swipe at The Yorkshire Post after our expose on Monday regarding the chaos engulfing her organisation.

We published, among other things, the SGM complaints themselves, which referenced such as the recent loss of the first XI and “reimbursements to the other 11 Yorkshire Premier League North teams amounting to £5,500”; “financial mismanagement” following cumulative losses in 2023/24 of almost £175,000 that have created “a real danger to the club’s future existence”; ticket price hikes, “neglect of facilities”, and “complete disregard” for the membership per se.

She claimed that the club was “not approached for comment by the journalist” in question, in which case she might like to check in with her own club secretary, to whom this correspondent made three unanswered phone calls and left a voice message.

Remarkably, Edmunds did supply one useful piece of information, confirming that the North Stand had “reached the end of its usable life”.

That stand was propped up by scaffolding work last summer costing some £40,000 for what she confirmed allowed “limited use for a final season”.

Edmunds ended her missive by saying that there was a “real opportunity to be part of the club’s next chapter by volunteering, playing, watching, sharing ideas or simply popping in for a cup or glass of something! (her exclamation mark)”

Boycott, who scored 12 centuries at Scarborough during a storied career, has given freely of his time as president. He has spoken to sponsors, at lunches, and presented trophies, reflecting that he has come through worse storms than this.

“I’ve had more than this thrown at me over the years,” he said. “It’s water off a duck’s back.

“My birth sign is Libra – the scales of justice. I believe in fair play, in fairness, equality. This isn’t right. This isn’t fair. They seem to have forgotten they’re there to serve the members.”

Boycott and Harrison have two weeks to respond to the charges against them, the latter describing the suspensions as indicative of “the board’s desperation to cling to power”.

Yorkshire, for their part, are said to be monitoring events with some disquiet but are still very supportive of Scarborough as a key second ground.

They need stability, though, if the jewel in the crown is to retain its sparkle.