March 2021. Commons motion tabled on racism in English & Welsh cricket. What happened?
In March this year a Commons motion was tabled on racism in English & Welsh cricket. The aim was to put the ECB & Minister Dowden on a sticky wicket.
A number of MPs tabled an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons on the issue of racism in English and Welsh cricket.
As ESPN’s George Dobell noted such motions are rarely debated but serve the function of publicly tabling a matter:
Since the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement last summer there have been fine words from the ECB on the question but as the EDM notes evidence of progress or accountability for previous failings is scant.
The EDM asks the appropriate Minister Oliver Dowden to take action. Given Dowden’s well-known views on BLM getting change it certainly requires much more than an EDM. Very probably a campaign by those ‘activists’ who Dowden regularly complains about.
That this House expresses its serious concern at the underrepresentation of African, Caribbean and Asian coaches, umpires and match officials at all levels of Cricket in England and Wales; recalls the 1997 report Racial Equality in Cricket by the Cricket Board of England and Wales, which promised to tackle racism in cricket; expresses its alarm at the subsequent failure to address the institutional racism that is present at all levels of the game; condemns the failure of the English Cricket Board to appoint any African, Caribbean and Asian umpires and match officials to such panel positions in the last 29 years; deplores the bullying, racial harassment and victimisation suffered by African, Caribbean and Asian, players, umpires and coaches within first class cricket; welcomes the establishment of the Asian Cricket Association to promote the careers, training, and development of Asian cricketers and professionals in the game; calls upon the English and Wales Cricket Board to support and fully fund African, Caribbean and Asian Cricket Associations to remedy the historical injustice of race discrimination that has excluded ethnic minority cricket players, umpires, coaches, managers, and teams from reaching their true potential and position in the game; and urges the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to make anti-racism and equality and diversity targets within cricket a ministerial priority, and to report annually on the progress being made.
Leave a Reply