Survey Reveals Widespread Racism In English Cricket Forcing Players To Take Anti-racism Courses

England cricketers will undergo anti-racism training courses this year after a survey revealed that more than one-third of black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) players have faced prejudice in the game. The reason behind these courses is 45 per cent of more than 600 respondents claimed that racism had come from a fellow player, 10 per cent said it was from a coach, and around 30 per cent had experienced it on social media or from fans according to a survey.

Besides, 62 per cent of the surveyed players agreed to undergo courses while 70 per cent wanted specific education on racism and diversity as the only solution. The courses are set to cover the dressing room culture, raise awareness of how behaviour can be interpreted by different cultures and encourage people to challenge anything they deem to be unacceptable after ‘banter’ was identified as a mask for racism.

Majority Of Players Failing To Respond Not Helping

173 professional players had responded to the survey of which 24 were black, Asian, or from ethnic minority backgrounds. In total, 12 from BAME backgrounds had experienced some form of racism out of which 11 had direct experience. These number of responses will have to improve soon if the courses have to make an impact in the anti-racism awareness as people are yet to make it a big factor in society.

“It would have been far better if the vast majority of players had responded. Why they didn’t is very difficult to speculate,” said Charlie Mulraine, the PCA’s lead personal development manager.

“Sometimes there is nervousness talking about these issues and some are uncomfortable to express how they feel.” he added.

Introduction Of Phoneline To Report Racism In English Cricket

The England and Wales Cricket Board will be working to introduce an anonymous phone line to report racism and they will be guiding how people will be held to account for breaches. This will be a positive sign in the country to start something against Racism with a clear scope and clear direction on it.

“We needed to start somewhere. This gives us a clear direction of travel and it is an ambition to increase engagement with our members on this issue,” said Rob Lynch, the PCA’s chief executive.

“The option to do nothing was not there so the fact it has led us in this direction is a positive for the game,” he added

Racism acts had taken place in the recently concluded India Australia Cricket series which was taken into the notice to the concerned officials immediately.