ECB’s commission investigating discrimination in cricket ‘inundated’ with responses over recent weeks

Matt Verri23 November 2021

A commission set up by the ECB to investigate racism and other forms of discrimination in cricket has received more than 2,000 responses in two weeks.

The sport has been engulfed in a racism scandal following Azeem Rafiq’s harrowing testimony to a parliamentary committee last week, outlining the racist abuse he was subjected to during two spells at Yorkshire.

The Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC), established in March, opened an anonymous online survey on November 9 asking for people’s views on the culture of the game and its chair, Cindy Butts, said there has already been a significant reaction.

“Since launching part one of our call for evidence we have been inundated with responses,” Butts said.

“More than 2,000 people across the country have come forward to share their experiences both through the survey and also by directly reaching out to the ICEC. We anticipate that more and more people will come forward.

“We continue to urge anyone who has experienced discrimination whether that be sexism, elitism or racism, to respond to our call for evidence so we can examine the state of equity in cricket.”

The Daily Mail reported that allegations of racism had been made to the ICEC in relation to all 18 first-class counties.

The Commission will produce a report next year based on the evidence it receives and Butts told the BBC earlier this month: “We will say what we need to say and not shy away from really putting a mirror up to cricket and saying ‘this is what you look like’. We will follow the evidence wherever it takes us.”

Jahid Ahmed has become the latest former Essex player to allege that he was the subject of racist abuse while playing for the club.

In an interview with The Cricketer, Ahmed says he concluded that Essex was “a white man’s world where brown people were outsiders” after being asked by a team-mate if he was “going to bomb” the club.

The 35-year-old also claims his voice was mocked and mimicked by players and some members of the coaching staff and that he felt pressured to attend a team meeting in a pub while he was fasting during Ramadan.

The new development follows allegations made earlier this month by former Essex batter Zoheb Sharif, who said he received racist abuse that included being called “bomber” by his team-mates after the 9/11 attacks in the United States.

Another former Essex player, Maurice Chambers, has also described how he was allegedly subjected to racist bullying for 10 years at the club, including having bananas thrown at him and frequently being subjected to racist jokes.

John Faragher resigned as Essex chairman on November 11 following a claim he used racist language at a board meeting in 2017, which he strongly denied.

Yorkshire were widely condemned for saying they would not discipline anyone despite a report finding Rafiq was a victim of “racial harassment and bullying”. The club’s chair, Roger Hutton, and chief executive, Mark Arthur, subsequently resigned.

On Monday, Yorkshire announced that 36 people had contacted their independent whistleblower hotline, initiated by new club chair Lord Kamlesh Patel, in the week since it was launched.

Additional reporting by PA Sport.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT