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Mr Brian, who was chairman of Cricket Scotland’s 14-member board who resigned the day before the Changing The Boundaries report found it to be institutionally racist, said the sport has lost millions in lost revenue through what he says is unjust findings and that he has spoken about the devastating effect the case had on his life.
And he said the “incredibly flawed” subsequent investigation overseen by Scottish Government agency SportScotland was “a shambles” that had cost the country’s purse hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Mr Brian, who was chairman of Cricket Scotland between 2015 and 2022, said: “How is cricket in Scotland worse than the things that happen on the racial front in football, yet that is what is being said to the world?”
In April, 2022, Mr Brian and other board members resigned following the interim findings of a review of cricket in Scotland where 200 people were said to have been directly engaged in the review which found 448 instances of apart from racism, discrimination within cricket with more than half (246) related to policies and procedures across the sport, which created a culture where individuals were treated unfairly.
The allegations included racial abuse, the use of inappropriate language, preference for young, white children from public schools and the lack of a transparent selection process for non-white players. In some cases, multiple concerns had been raised against the same individual.
The review found that contributors had “obviously or experienced ongoing racism, discrimination and micro-aggressions on the basis of race during their role as a coach, referee or player”.
The review was ordered after a number of allegations were made against Cricket Scotland and the Western Region Cricket Union (WDCU) in 2021.
They included allegations of racial abuse suffered by Scottish cricketers Majid Haq and Qasim Sheikh.
Two law firms, Harper Macleod LLP and Bishop Lloyd Jackson Solicitors, and race inclusion charity Sporting Equals carried out an ‘independent’ investigation into complaints of alleged racist behaviour.
But after two years of further investigation, Cricket Scotland has been unable to confirm that any disciplinary action has been taken.
After further reporting, the 202 detailed individual concerns resulted in 77 referrals.
Ultimately, the independent investigators investigated 53 referred cases. Of those, 51 have been completed and two have yet to start. Of those, approximately 13 were examined for review.
Cricket Scotland says only five cases were “progressed to Cricket Scotland’s disciplinary procedures”.
Meanwhile SportScotland’s latest updates which placed Cricket Scotland in ‘special measures’ say there is no change in that situation although they are due to be in place until October 2023 to provide “a full year of supervision”.
The inquiry team has said that across all 51 referrals around 250 “lessons learned have been identified” after 4,000 hours of work and engagement with over 170 people and witnesses, considering thousands of pages of documents and evidence from “many different media” and that “there was no exculpation of any individual in any report offered to the Cricket Scotland board”.
Mr Brian said: “It’s been a shambles. It wasn’t institutionally racist. It doesn’t mean there weren’t isolated incidents of racism. There were. And we dealt with them when they arose, in what what we believed was the Unfortunately, this reflects how society is in Scotland and elsewhere, where these isolated incidents arise.
“But for Cricket Scotland to be seen as institutionally racist was completely wrong and the report reached the wrong conclusion.
“There should be an investigation, to look at it from start to finish, assess what has gone wrong, draw conclusions and provide lessons to be learned and ensure that nothing like this ever happens again. ”
He asked what happened to the “other 151 so-called racist incidents” and the 246 policy and procedural failures that were never fully published but cited in the Plan4Sport Boundary Change report.
He says the existence of the report was publicized with “great fanfare but now appears to have been brushed under the carpet”.
Mr Brian said that SportScotland and the investigation team, in the interest of being completely open and transparent, must urgently publish details of all cases referred where disciplinary action has not been recommended, including the date of the incident, its nature alleged and the specific details. reason why it has not been followed.
Mr Brian said: “Cricket in Scotland has been a diverse sport for many years. We have had a higher proportion of people from ethnic backgrounds than I think any other major sport.
“What has happened has been a disgraceful example of the failure of the government agency, sportscotland to tackle issues thoroughly and based on evidence and with fairness to all.
“What should happen when allegations are made is that they should be thoroughly investigated, what happened here is that allegations were made and immediately accepted as true before any investigation was done, or questions were asked. asked the people against whom the complaints were made. so they have the opportunity to provide evidence to refute them The lack of rigour, the lack of hard evidence and due process is the problem.”
He said it had “undoubtedly” been a stain on his reputation and added: “I have long-standing friends who no longer contact me. But to be honest my reputation is neither here nor there a lot of things. Scotland has been hugely affected. If you are a parent who wants your child to get into sports, would you choose cricket now with the taint. put on?
Scottish cricket, which has seen its players almost reach the quarter-finals of the T20 World Cup at the expense of England, had applied to become a Full Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2021 and detailed discussions were taking place until the Change the boundaries Report everything changed.
“That would have made a financial difference of more than £10m a year if it had been accepted,” said Mr Brian. “And there was a very good chance that we would be accepted from 2023 onwards. That disappeared when the Changing the Boundaries report came out. So, this is more than just a reputation, it’s a definite investment in the game which has been affected.
“If you were a sponsor, would you want to put money into a game that has this corruption about it?.”
The campaign group Running Out Racism has also questioned the investigation into John Blain, one of Scotland’s leading wicket takers of all time.
He was questioning statements made by Cricket Scotland regarding allegations of racism against the former international after he said the findings of the investigation “absolutely disgust me”.
Mr Blain published a letter from Cricket Scotland’s interim chief executive, Pete Fitzboydon, from January, informing him that the allegations against him were “unfounded” but asking him to keep that information confidential to allow time for the complainants to be informed of the results.
Cricket Scotland’s subsequent “delay and procrastination” before going public, Mr Blain said, forced him to release his statement, five months after receiving the letter.
But the investigation team then explained that its role was to “make factual findings” and not pronounce guilt or innocence against any person.
Running Out Racism says Cricket Scotland subsequently gave it a “contradictory account of the situation and Mr Blain’s allegations”.
One of the whistleblowers who lodged complaints relating to incidents in 2006 spoke of his disappointment after receiving a letter saying that this complaint had been dropped “on a technicality”.
Mr Brian said that what happened to Mr Blain was “shameful, absolutely incredible and disgraceful” and an example of the investigation being “shamed”.
“John has a letter he got from Cricket Scotland and he felt he had been suspended for five months and now they say that’s not true. They couldn’t look into the matter,” he said.
The investigation team said it can state with “absolute confidence that the “extensive investigations carried out echo those findings reported in Changing Boundaries in terms of failures at an organizational level which led to inappropriate individual practice”.
“Evidence of poor governance, poor and/or absent policies and procedures to deal with complaints about racism, inappropriate and/or lack of support for whistleblowers and/or complainants and failures in providing diversity, equity and inclusion policies were all evident. to the investigation team.”
He said complaints and allegations did not lead to disciplinary action due to “various difficulties which in no way diminish or counteract the basis of the allegations presented by the complainants…”
And they have said that it strongly encourages Scottish Cricket to “acknowledge the many recommendations made by Boundary Change and the lessons learned from the inquiry team which, once fully adopted and embraced, will improves and strengthens the game for all” and “move on accepting that, for too many people, participation in cricket has included those individuals who experience unacceptable behaviour, compounded by an environment where they have not been able present their complaints and/or seek appropriate redress at the time of those experiences”.
He also said that Cricket Scotland “fully supports a process of conciliation and where necessary mediation through formal and informal channels for the benefit of individual personal relationships and for the benefit of the sport in Scotland”.
Last year, a scorer who abused a cricket umpire in Greenock was banned for life. Ronald (Ronnie) McGregor admitted a charge of ‘acting in a manner aggravated by racism which caused or intended to cause alarm or distress’ to Majid Haq when the goalscorer called the former Scotland international a ‘cheating P**i’ during a match against Greenock. Stenhousemuir in Glenpark on August 12, a year after the Boundary Change report was published.
And in 2022 a former first-class cricketer was sacked for force-feeding meat and alcohol to a young player knowing it was against his religious beliefs.
It was alleged that Graham Gardner targeted Parag Gadhia at Stenhousemuir Cricket Club, Falkirk, between 1 January 1989 and 31 December 1991.
But the charge was found unproven after a trial at Falkirk Sheriff Court.
Sheriff Frank Gill said the evidence from witnesses in the case was not entirely reliable.
SportScotland said no one was available to comment.
Cricket Scotland has been contacted for comment.
(Except translation, this story has not been edited by achinews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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