London: The England and Wales Cricket Board Tuesday said it was committed to setting up a new anti-discrimination unit to ensure it has the right resources and capabilities to tackle discrimination in all its forms.
ECB Said that the work of defining the resources and capabilities required by the unit has been completed and the proposed approach has been approved by its Board.
It added that the delivery plan is in the development stage and full implementation will take longer than initially envisaged.
“In the first phase, the ECB has established a new role of Head of Discipline, with the responsibility of managing allegations of discrimination from within recreational sport, assisting counties with issues,” the ECB said in a statement. and oversee the investigation process.”
“This role, which will be supported by two managers, will come into force from June 2022.
“The addition of these new resources follows the creation, as described in the previous update, of a game-wide system allowing anyone to report an incident of discrimination that they have experienced in recreational cricket.
“Separate systems exist for reporting and managing any incidents involving professional sport and ECB staff.”
The ECB has published its third update on the implementation of cricket’s action plan to combat racism and promote inclusion and diversity at all levels of the game.
It all started with Azeem Rafiq’s allegations of racism against him during his tenure in Yorkshire.
The ECB got down to settling their home in November last year after the Yorkshire player gary balance He admitted to using racial slurs against his former partner Rafiq.
The ECB later banned Yorkshire County From hosting international matches to failing to act on former player Rafiq’s allegations of racial abuse, which turned out to be true in an independent investigation, the club’s approach called “disgusting”.
“Since the last update on 1 April 2022, the ECB has continued to work with stakeholders across the sport to deliver further progress against the measures announced as part of the Action Plan.
“In line with the estimated timetable for full delivery of the scheme, the next update will be provided before the end of September,” the board said.
The ECB said that since the publication of the action plan in November last year, the County Cricket Network had made “significant progress to increase board diversity in line with the goal of 30 percent female representation and locally representative ethnicity by the end of April 2022”. .
“Over the past six months, more than 30 organizations have appointed at least one new non-executive director (NED) to their boards, with many appointing multiple NEDs in key recruitment processes,” it said.
The ECB has put together an organization, Essex County Cricket ClubIn a non-compliance process, because they have fallen far short of their goals and they do not yet have a clear action plan to deliver the change within a suitable time-frame.
“As part of this process, the Essex CCC should provide an updated action plan for approval by the ECB and may consider sanctions if sufficient progress is not made within the agreed time frame.”
The ECB has also worked with First Class counties and the Sports Ground Safety Authority (SGSA) to complete a pre-season review of the effectiveness of their venues in managing crowd behavior, to ensure that robust systems are in place. There is a place to put it. , enforcement, and sanctioning of any discriminatory or abusive behavior.
In addition, a pilot scheme will be launched this season at Kia Oval and Edgbaston to test the use of advanced CCTV to improve incident detection, tracking and reporting.
“The comprehensive rollout of the technology will be considered based on the success of the pilot. In order to promote best practice, all crowd management incidents will be subject to formal reporting to the ECB’s safety and security team from the 2022 season, with a sanctions policy in place. Poor crowd management agreed for the 2023 season.
“Further evaluation of crowd behavior will be carried out during 2022 with the support of external partners including Wax Consultancy, SGSA and Leeds Beckett UniversityWith the aim of identifying further improvements in our approach in this area,” the ECB said.
ECB Said that the work of defining the resources and capabilities required by the unit has been completed and the proposed approach has been approved by its Board.
It added that the delivery plan is in the development stage and full implementation will take longer than initially envisaged.
“In the first phase, the ECB has established a new role of Head of Discipline, with the responsibility of managing allegations of discrimination from within recreational sport, assisting counties with issues,” the ECB said in a statement. and oversee the investigation process.”
“This role, which will be supported by two managers, will come into force from June 2022.
“The addition of these new resources follows the creation, as described in the previous update, of a game-wide system allowing anyone to report an incident of discrimination that they have experienced in recreational cricket.
“Separate systems exist for reporting and managing any incidents involving professional sport and ECB staff.”
The ECB has published its third update on the implementation of cricket’s action plan to combat racism and promote inclusion and diversity at all levels of the game.
It all started with Azeem Rafiq’s allegations of racism against him during his tenure in Yorkshire.
The ECB got down to settling their home in November last year after the Yorkshire player gary balance He admitted to using racial slurs against his former partner Rafiq.
The ECB later banned Yorkshire County From hosting international matches to failing to act on former player Rafiq’s allegations of racial abuse, which turned out to be true in an independent investigation, the club’s approach called “disgusting”.
“Since the last update on 1 April 2022, the ECB has continued to work with stakeholders across the sport to deliver further progress against the measures announced as part of the Action Plan.
“In line with the estimated timetable for full delivery of the scheme, the next update will be provided before the end of September,” the board said.
The ECB said that since the publication of the action plan in November last year, the County Cricket Network had made “significant progress to increase board diversity in line with the goal of 30 percent female representation and locally representative ethnicity by the end of April 2022”. .
“Over the past six months, more than 30 organizations have appointed at least one new non-executive director (NED) to their boards, with many appointing multiple NEDs in key recruitment processes,” it said.
The ECB has put together an organization, Essex County Cricket ClubIn a non-compliance process, because they have fallen far short of their goals and they do not yet have a clear action plan to deliver the change within a suitable time-frame.
“As part of this process, the Essex CCC should provide an updated action plan for approval by the ECB and may consider sanctions if sufficient progress is not made within the agreed time frame.”
The ECB has also worked with First Class counties and the Sports Ground Safety Authority (SGSA) to complete a pre-season review of the effectiveness of their venues in managing crowd behavior, to ensure that robust systems are in place. There is a place to put it. , enforcement, and sanctioning of any discriminatory or abusive behavior.
In addition, a pilot scheme will be launched this season at Kia Oval and Edgbaston to test the use of advanced CCTV to improve incident detection, tracking and reporting.
“The comprehensive rollout of the technology will be considered based on the success of the pilot. In order to promote best practice, all crowd management incidents will be subject to formal reporting to the ECB’s safety and security team from the 2022 season, with a sanctions policy in place. Poor crowd management agreed for the 2023 season.
“Further evaluation of crowd behavior will be carried out during 2022 with the support of external partners including Wax Consultancy, SGSA and Leeds Beckett UniversityWith the aim of identifying further improvements in our approach in this area,” the ECB said.