LONDON: The British government said Thursday it expected to see “clear and lasting evidence of positive progress” across English cricket after a damaging racism scandal rocked the sport.
Former spin bowler Azeem Rafiq accused Yorkshire of failing to deal adequately with the abuse he suffered while playing for the county side, saying he had been driven to thoughts of suicide.
A committee of lawmakers heard harrowing testimony from the Pakistan-born player in November, plus evidence from senior figures at the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the former and current chairmen of Yorkshire.
The parliamentary Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) committee issued its report in January, saying cricket must root out “deep-seated racism” or face losing public money.
The government made its formal response on Thursday, noting encouraging progress over recent months but calling for “clear and lasting evidence of positive progress across the sport.”
It agreed with the committee’s recommendation that future public funds for the sport should be dependent on “continuous, demonstrable progress in getting rid of racism in both the dressing rooms and on the stands.”
The government said public funding was already “explicitly linked” to the development and implementation of robust diversity and inclusion policies.
It also agreed that the ECB needed to be held to account and transparently report their progress against key indicators, saying the minister for sport had been meeting regularly with the ECB and clubs since November.
“We expect to see evidence of improvements across the sport and delivery on the ECB’s ambition to eradicate racism from cricket,” the government said.
“However if these changes are not made and implemented, the government reserves the right to intervene further.”
Yorkshire will hold an extraordinary general meeting on March 31 to vote on changes to the structure of the board following the racism scandal.
UK government demands progress on racism in cricket
https://arab.news/5tkpt
UK government demands progress on racism in cricket
- Former spin bowler Azeem Rafiq accused Yorkshire of failing to deal adequately with the abuse he suffered
- A committee of lawmakers heard harrowing testimony from the Pakistan-born player in November
Postecoglou admits taking Nottingham Forest post a ‘bad decision’
- Postecoglou, 60, was appointed as Nuno Espirito Santo’s successor in September
- “There’s no point me blaming it on ‘I didn’t get time’ or anything,” said Postecoglou
LONDON: Ange Postecoglou has said he has only himself to blame for an extraordinarily brief reign as Nottingham Forest manager, with the Australian accepting he made “a bad decision” taking on the job with the Premier League strugglers.
Postecoglou, 60, was appointed as Nuno Espirito Santo’s successor in September.
But infamously impatient Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis sacked Postecoglou just 39 days later, after the experienced manager lost six of his eight games in charge.
Postecoglou, reflecting on his time at Forest for the Overlap podcast, said an over-eagerness to get back into management after his departure from Tottenham Hotspur three months earlier, had been the root cause of his troubles at the City Ground.
“There’s no point me blaming it on ‘I didn’t get time’ or anything,” said Postecoglou. “I should never have gone in there. That was on me. That was a bad decision by me to go in there. I’ve got to take ownership of that.
“It was too soon after Tottenham. I was taking over at a time where they were kind of used to doing things a certain way and I’m obviously going to do things differently. I’ve got to cop that, that was my mistake. It’s no-one else’s fault.”
Postecoglou remains without a club but he has ruled out returning to Celtic, where he enjoyed a successful two-year stint from 2021-23, with the 73-year-old Martin O’Neill currently in caretaker charge of the Scottish champions until the end of the season.
“I loved Celtic, it’s a wonderful football club,” said Postecoglou, who left the Glasgow giants to join Spurs. “If I was younger, I probably would have stayed there longer. I probably would have stayed there three, four years.
“I think I could have made progress with them in Europe but at the time, it had taken me a long time to get to this sort of space, and the opportunity to join Tottenham was too good.
“In terms of going back, I don’t go back. I just don’t think that’s kind of been my career.
“Whatever the next step is, it’ll be something new, somewhere I can make an impact in, somewhere I can win things, but it doesn’t diminish the affection I have for Celtic.”
