"Banter Is A Swear Word Now" - ECB Chief Executive Richard Gould Says Dressing Room Banter Is Not Acceptable

The newly appointed England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chief executive, Richard Gould has announced that dressing room banter will no longer be tolerated. Richard Gould said banter was seen as a “swear word” as part of the ECB’s effort to become “the most inclusive sport in the country” following the Yorkshire racism issue.

Richard Gould’s statement came after the Cricket Disciplinary Commission (CDC) hearings concluded with the former England captain Michael Vaughan being cleared of a racism charge. However, Matthew Hoggard, Tim Bresnan, John Blain, Andrew Gale, and Richard Pyrah were all found to have used racist and discriminatory words.

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Richard Gould, who took over the charge as ECB chief executive in February this year, said that the teams must reassess their culture to establish what would be acceptable behavior in the dressing room.

“We have seen within dressing rooms, banter used to be a word that you could use. But banter is a swear word now. Banter is not acceptable,” said Richard Gould was quoted as saying by ‘Guardian’.

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Teams To Ensure They Have Their Own Correct Levels Of Control – Andrew Strauss

Former England captain Andrew Strauss has urged cricketers to avoid dressing room banter that leads to racial harassment to avoid controversies like the Azeem Rafiq fiasco. Strauss said teams should have their own levels of control and decide their own culture.

“It’s up to the teams to ensure they have their own correct levels of control and to determine their culture. But they know the base level of what is and isn’t acceptable,” Andrew Strauss said.

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The Pakistani-born cricketer Azeem Rafiq, who played for Yorkshire for almost ten years, has claimed that racist comments and the actions of teammates put him at risk of taking his own life. Six former Yorkshire cricketers have been found guilty of using racial language in the dressing room.

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