ECB ban 'banter' from dressing rooms following Yorkshire racism scandal

06 April 2023 , 14:25

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ECB ban 'banter' from dressing rooms following Yorkshire racism scandal

New ECB chief executive Richard Gould says "banter is a swear word" within dressing rooms as cricket attempts to become the "most inclusive sport in the country" following the Yorkshire racism scandal.

Gould was speaking following the conclusion of the Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) hearings which saw former England captain Michael Vaughan cleared of a racism charge, while Matthew Hoggard, Tim Bresnan, John Blain, Andrew Gale and Richard Pyrah were all found to have used racist and discriminatory language during their time at Headingley.

Gary Ballance also admitted to three charges of using racist and discriminatory language, while Yorkshire accepted four charges including a failure to 'address systemic use of racist and/or discriminatory language over a prolonged period'.

And Gould says the sport will no longer tolerate racism or discrimination taking place under the guise of "banter", referencing the fact Yorkshire's initial report into Azeem Rafiq's allegations cleared Ballance of racism and deemed his use of the slur "P***" as "friendly banter".

"Some of the difficult issues at Yorkshire went back 20 years and when you go back over 20 years, behaviours were different," Gould said. "As a society and sport we seek to improve year on year.

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"What we have seen at Yorkshire, I don't believe they are wholly a Yorkshire issue or a wholly cricket issue either. [But] 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. 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."

New ECB chief Richard Gould hopes to make cricket the "most inclusive sport in the country" (AFP via Getty Images)

Gould went on to describe the CDC hearings as "the culmination of a lot of issues over a long period of time which had become poisonous for the game", with the ECB now awaiting publication of a report from the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) which is looking at racism, sexism and class within the sport.

"I'm sure when the ICEC report lands it will be very helpful in laying bare to us so that we are under no illusions in terms of the communities that we have not been engaging with to the extent that we should have," he added.

"We need to make sure that we do become the most inclusive sport in the country by being able to demonstrate that we are wholly representative of the communities within which we sit. We know we have huge challenges, but also great opportunities to change the sport. Championing inclusion and winning back trust are going to be key."

Matthew Cooper