Photo Credit: Professional Cricketers Association
Programme to be delivered to every current professional cricketer during 2021 season.
A major new programme of player education will be delivered across professional cricket during the 2021 season as part of a zero-tolerance approach to racial discrimination in cricket.
The Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) established an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Working Group in 2020 and has recently concluded a player survey. A central recommendation of the working group is to roll out a full programme of education to all PCA members. The PCA has partnered with the EW Group a leading consultancy in diversity, unconscious bias and inclusive leadership to develop the education programme.
Education will begin in March and will see workshops delivered to all domestic male and female teams as well as the England men’s and women’s squads.
The anti-racism programme will raise awareness of cultural differences and unconscious bias specifically in the context of racism in professional cricket, and address issues such as workplace banter and inappropriate non-verbal behaviour.The education aims to:
- Increase cultural awareness and understanding of how behaviour can be interpreted differently.
- Address a wide range of themes including ethnicity, gender, ‘in’ and ‘out’ groups and micro behaviours.
- Raise awareness of what unconscious bias is and how it operates for both individuals and organisations, so participants can identify possible bias in themselves and others and learn how to manage the inappropriate behaviours that those biased attitudes can create.
- Enable people to implement practical strategies to remain aware of, challenge and deal with subtle and unconscious bias in all aspects of the game.
- Encourage people to challenge non-inclusive behaviours.
The action comes as the PCA publishes the findings of a survey from the 2020 season, which questioned members about their experiences of racism in the game.
The research shows that although 92% of players believe their employers produce an environment that allows all cricketers to flourish, from the 173 PCA members who completed the survey, 23 players had experienced racism in the professional game.
The study which was carried out by the PCA in August and September 2020 highlighted the issues in reporting racism with a belief from players that education would be very important to tackling racial inequalities.
Of those players who had experienced or witnessed racism, 45% of these instances were from another player with 39% of respondents saying the abuse was either from fans or on social media.
When asked what the intent was in the instances of racism, 62% believed it was disguised as banter with 70% believing increased education would have a positive impact on players’ attitudes towards diversity and inclusion within the professional game.
“We are delighted to work with EW Group to deliver a new player education programme as we continue to take a zero-tolerance approach to racism and discrimination in cricket.”
ROB LYNCH, PCA CEO
The PCA education programme follows a range of measures announced recently by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to accelerate work to drive out discrimination and make cricket a game for everyone.
This includes a new anti-discrimination Code which will be introduced ahead of the 2021 season enabling discriminatory behaviour to be sanctioned; and a Forum for Race in Cricket enabling people to come forward in confidence so the ECB can listen to and learn from people’s lived experiences in cricket.
An independent Commission for Equality in Cricket will also be launched shortly to assess evidence of inequalities and discrimination within cricket and advise on further actions needed to tackle them.
“We will continue to listen and learn from people’s experiences across our sport to guide our future work to make cricket the truly inclusive and diverse sport we want it to be.”
NEIL SNOWBALL, ECB MANAGING DIRECTOR, COUNTY CRICKET
Rob Lynch, PCA Chief Executive, said:
“After a thorough consultation process, we are delighted to work with EW Group to deliver a new player education programme as we continue to take a zero-tolerance approach to racism and discrimination in cricket.
“We were very impressed by EW Group’s understanding of the key issues, and the organisation has an excellent track record of working within top-level professional sport.
“This is the next step in our EDI work which has been led by PCA members. After being challenged by our members last summer, we progressively worked with our past and present players to form our EDI Working Group and collate players’ experiences on this incredibly important subject.
“Racism in the game is unacceptable and the game needs to take action. Players have asked for education and clarity on the reporting of discriminatory behaviours and for the development of a code of conduct, which we will deliver on this year. We will continue to work with the ECB and other key stakeholders in this area to do more, and simply be better.
“There is plenty of work to be done in the fight for equality, this is about effecting real change and we will continue to strive to ensure that professional cricket is a game for all.”
Neil Snowball, ECB Managing Director, County Cricket, said:
“There is no place for racism or discrimination of any kind in cricket. We have a simple goal of making cricket a game for everyone, and we’re grateful to those people who’ve been brave enough to tell of their experiences. We are absolutely committed to doing everything we can to make sure we learn from those experiences and act on them.
“This education programme adds to the action we have already set out, including a new game-wide Code to stamp out any discriminatory behaviour. We will continue to listen and learn from people’s experiences across our sport to guide our future work to make cricket the truly inclusive and diverse sport we want it to be.”
Notes
A document outlining the results of the survey can be found here.
About EW Group
EW Group is a leading full-service diversity and inclusion consultancy which is based in London and works with businesses across the UK and globally. As specialists in diversity, unconscious bias and inclusive leadership for over 28 years, the team delivers highly impactful consultancy and training programmes that challenge and engage senior leaders and teams to drive real cultural change that results in greater equity.
For further information and to view EW Group’s case studies visit: EW Group – Full-Service Diversity and Inclusion Consultancy (theewgroup.com)
Name of Author: Professional Cricketers Association
The Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA), founded in 1967 by former England fast bowler Fred Rumsey as the Cricketers’ Association, represents past and present first-class cricketers in England and Wales. In the 1970s, the PCA established a standard employment contract and minimum wage for professional cricketers. It also helped create a pension scheme in 1995 and launched the magazine All Out Cricket and the ACE UK Educational Programme in 2002.
