Hampshire chair Rod Bransgrove denies making insensitive comment at all-game meeting

Kevin Brennan MP put two allegations to the Hants chief during the DCMS committee hearing into racism in cricket, both of which were dismissed

Rod Bransgrove, the Hampshire chair, has dismissed allegations he made insensitive comments while English cricket was attempting to respond to the racism crisis engulfing the sport.

Two statements, at least one of which was allegedly made at the all-game meeting between the sport's key stakeholders at the Kia Oval in November, were brought up during a Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee hearing on Tuesday (January 25).

Kevin Brennan MP put the comments to Bransgrove, Hampshire chair since 2000.

Brennan asked him if he recognised the comment "the trouble is they've forgotten the value of white men," made during the meeting on November 19.

In addition, the remark "I know what racism is like, I am a white man over 60," was also raised.

Bransgrove refuted the allegations as "absolute nonsense".

Though he later said: "I might have made a comment like that but nothing about being white or 65.

"I do know what it is like to be overlooked for reasons completely outside of your control. You feel isolated, alone, you can't sleep. My sympathy is with people who are prejudiced against."

Mike O'Farrell, Gareth Williams and Lord Kamlesh Patel, chair at Middlesex, Glamorgan and Yorkshire respectively, were also appearing at the hearing.

Later, Labour MP Julie Elliott addressed the ECB's equity, diversity and inclusion plan that was published following the game-wide meeting which included a 12-point plan to tackle racism and promote inclusion.

During his DCMS hearing during the twilight of 2021, Azeem Rafiq said he believed English cricket was institutionally racist following his experiences during two spells at Yorkshire.

Bransgrove denied the charge during the hearing, spoke about his own relationship with previous overseas players at the Ageas Bowl and suggested the game is "over-achieving" in some areas with regard to the tackling of discrimination.

"There are many of us that don't feel the game is institutionally racist but clearly there are pockets that have emerged," he said. "I was one of those that we might all be tarred with the same brush.

"(Institutional racism) is what emerged and obviously we had suspicions about what was happening at Yorkshire and there we other isolated cases.

"But I hadn't seen the game as institutionally racist on the ground. It never seemed that way to me. I've been in the game for 22 years but I've been following it for decades.

"Hampshire had a long history of overseas professionals from the West Indies and these were people who came to our homes and got to know us and they're very good friends to this day in the Caribbean islands. It wasn't something that I felt."