Tom Harrison acknowledges "difficult set of truths" as ECB sets out initiatives to improve diversity

A game-wide anti-discrimination charter to span players, coaches, fans, media and clubs has been announced among the actions outlined as part of a new swathe of initiatives aimed at improving diversity levels throughout the game

The ECB has revealed a range of actions in the first phase of a plan to improve inclusion and diversity in English cricket, with chief executive Tom Harrison speaking openly about how the game must accept its previous mistakes, hold uncomfortable conversations and acknowledge “a very difficult set of truths”.

A game-wide anti-discrimination charter to span players, coaches, fans, media and clubs has been announced among the actions outlined as part of a new swathe of initiatives aimed at improving diversity levels throughout the game.

Other steps include improving representation across administrators and decision-makers, increased education and creating greater opportunities for BAME individuals in playing, coaching and employment in cricketing circles.

The ECB has also committed to working to increase the ethnic diversity of its own board – Harrison admitted that the organisation’s recent annual general meeting, which was conducted virtually, gave “a very stark reminder of the membership of the ECB, which is a very heavily predominantly white elderly male demographic, which doesn’t reflect the playing base of our game in this country – nor where we really want to be in the future if we’re going to continue to grow and continue to be relevant”.

A press release also explained that “the board will also work with first-class county and county boards to support them reaching their own representation targets, notably, to have at least 30% women and a BAME target guided by the make-up of their local population – as quickly as possible”.

A new coaching bursary will be introduced for future black coaches, while cricket will also be increased in primary schools with a focus on ethnically diverse areas.

Speaking on Tuesday, Harrison admitted that cricket “[hasn’t] got this right in the past”.

He said: “When everything’s going well in your sport, particularly in the spotlight if you have a sport that is becoming wealthier, more successful for whatever reason, it’s very easy to think all is well beneath the surface. I also think that it’s easy to think that if you’ve got a smattering of cricketers or role models from a certain community across the game, whether that is from the South Asian community, whether it’s from the black community, whether it’s from disability cricket or about gay cricketers, you can easily think that you don’t have a problem.

“We’ve got a warning here from the black community now, saying: ‘Guys, you’re not relevant to us right now.’ In 15 or 20 years’ time, if we’ve got that same problem with the South Asian communities, then you’ve just lost 35 per cent of your participation just like that. It takes authentic effort, proper understanding of the issues and then a long and committed drive to reverse it. It will take a long time but it absolutely has to happen.”

He added that events of recent weeks and his own self-reflection in response to the Black Lives Matter movement had let him wondering whether cricket had done enough to make a genuine connection among different communities.

“If we’re not attracting people from the African-Caribbean community into the game, then we’re missing out on a huge amount,” he explained. “It’s something that the game should reflect very deeply on.

^{Tom Harrison is chief executive of the ECB}

“I think the reality is that maybe we’ve never cracked this challenge as a game in this country. I think we’ve been fortunate that in the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s, potentially Britain was handed a generation of black cricketing fans, people who had a connection with the game through a family connection in the Caribbean, born out of cricketing experience in the Caribbean. I think those communities subsequently found life extremely difficult when coming to Britain and maybe cricket was one of the ways in which they were able to connect and feel part of their community in this country that was in large parts pretty unwelcoming. And I think that’s a massive understatement, by the way.

“Having spoken to many players who have had that experience of having parents coming to the UK at that time, it’s clear that I think we’ve been fortunate to suggest that the game has made this connection in the past, where I think that maybe that is a flattering version of the truth for cricket to face. What we have to understand now is that it’s not just black communities, but a huge swathe of urban communities and diverse communities that don’t feel cricket is making a real connection with them at the moment. That’s work that we absolutely need to do.

“In the same way that there is not that automatic connection now with this new generation of black community youngsters who don’t feel that cricket is a game for them, the danger is that in a generation’s time if we don’t get this right, we will suffer the same fate with respect to the South Asian community, and their natural connection with the game is also probably born out of a family connection with the game in the subcontinent. In both of these situations, we’re finding that there is a pattern here that we absolutely have to address – to change that scenario, to change that sense of disenfranchisement, to get under the skin of it and move forward together.”

He explained, as well, why he is keen for the Rooney Rule, which was first implemented in the NFL and requires at least one person from a minority to be interviewed for each position advertised, to be adopted for coaching posts throughout the game.

As of 2019, only seven out of 118 coaches in men’s county cricket came from a BAME background. And while Vikram Solanki was named recently as Surrey’s head coach, becoming the first South Asian to hold a men’s county head coach role, his appointment has proven to be an exception.

“We need much more of that,” Harrison said, “and it needs to be a genuine desire to create the pipeline of coaches that feel like they have a proper opportunity to develop a career in the game at a professional level.”

He added: “This has been a time of huge reflection, not just our organisation but for me personally. I recognise that we are not where we should be as a sport and, admittedly, as a society too. I know that cricket can play a huge role in driving change way beyond these boundaries. I genuinely don’t think there is anything more important for us to do.”

The Cricketer is collaborating with The Voice in an effort to address cricket's racial diversity issue