Middlesex cricket chairman Mike O’Farrell slammed for saying ‘black people prefer football’ at racism inquiry

Middlesex chairman Mike O’Farrell has been criticised and accused of stereotyping after claiming black people are likely to prefer football over cricket, while Asian players prioritise academia.

O’Farrell was speaking before a Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee on Tuesday following the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal.

Former Yorkshire player Rafiq and ex-England bowler Ebony Rainford-Brent were among those to criticise O’Farrell, with the latter describing the remarks as ‘painful’ and ‘outdated’.

‘The football and rugby world becomes much more attractive to the Afro-Caribbean community,’ O’Farrell said.

‘And in terms of the South Asian community, there is a moment where we’re finding that they do not want necessarily to commit the same time that is necessary to go the next step because they prefer, not always saying they do it, they sometimes prefer to go into other educational fields and then cricket becomes secondary, and part of that is because it’s a rather more time-consuming sport than some others.’

Rainford-Brent said O’Farrell’s views highlighted why cricket was under pressure to tackle issues of diversity and inclusion.

<p lang=«en» dir=«ltr» xml:lang=«en»>Middlesex chair Mike O’Farrell has apologised for comments he made during the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee meeting around the lack of diversity among young people in cricket.pic.twitter.com/GlXCKjq5mK

‘Honestly these outdated views in the game are exactly why we are in this position,’ said the Surrey director.

‘Unfortunately the decision-makers hold onto these myths. “The Black community only like football, and Asian community only interested in education”. Seriously the game deserves better.’

Rainford-Brent, who runs a charity called ACE