Report author ‘shocked’ by extent of institutional racism in Cricket Scotland

An author of an independent report on Cricket Scotland was “shocked” to see the governing body fail 29 of 31 indicators of institutional racism.

The organisation will be placed in special measures by sportscotland, the national agency for sport, after 448 instances of institutional racism were uncovered.

Consultancy firm Plan4Sport was commissioned by sportscotland in December after former Scotland players Majid Haq and Qasim Sheikh made claims of racism in the wake of revelations on Yorkshire County Cricket Club.

After almost 1,000 people engaged with the review, the conclusions were damning.

Of the two criteria the sporting organisation did pass, there were partial failings.

From an anonymous survey, 122 people reported experiencing racial discrimination and 49 people reported experiencing discrimination on grounds of religion or belief. Most (62 per cent) of the survey respondents had experienced, seen or received reports of racism or other forms of discrimination.

From conversations, 68 individual concerns have been referred for further investigation, including 31 allegations of racism against 15 people, two clubs and one regional association. Some cases have been referred to Police Scotland, some to Children First and others to Cricket Scotland. No other details were given but someone has already appeared in court.

The allegations include racial abuse, use of inappropriate language, favouritism towards white children from public schools and a lack of a transparent selection process.

The review also found a lack of any diversity or anti-racist training; no consistent process for handling racist incidents with people who did raise issues “sidelined or ignored”,  a lack of diversity from board level to the coaching