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NEW DELHI, July 26: The leadership of Scottish cricket was found to be institutionally racist by an independent review, dealing another major blow to the sport after a similar scandal in the English game.
The review was published Monday following a seven-month investigation sparked by allegations from Scotland's all-time leading wicket-taker, Majid Haq, and his former teammate, Qasim Sheikh.
It found that governing body Cricket Scotland failed in 29 out of 31 indicators of institutional racism set out by a consultancy firm leading the investigation. The body only partially passed the other two tests and there were 448 examples of institutional racism.
Hundreds of people came forward to recount their experiences as part of the investigation. From those conversations, 68 individual concerns have been referred for further investigation, including 31 allegations of racism against 15 people, two clubs and one regional association.
The allegations include racial abuse, the use of inappropriate language, favoritism toward white children from public schools, and a lack of a transparent selection process.
An interim report in April revealed that some incidents had been referred to police. One individual has appeared in court as a result.
The review also found a lack of any diversity or anti-racist training, no consistent process for handling racist incidents - with people who did raise issues "sidelined or ignored" - a lack of diversity from board level to the coaching workforce and within the talent pathway, and a lack of transparency in the selection process.
The consultancy firm leading the review said it was clear that the "governance and leadership practices of Cricket Scotland have been institutionally racist."
"The reality is that the leadership of the organization failed to see the problems and, in failing to do so, enabled a culture of racially aggravated micro-aggressions to develop," said Louise Tideswell, the firm's managing director.
The review is recommending that Cricket Scotland be placed in special measures by sportscotland, the government agency overseeing sports in the country.
Stewart Harris, chief executive of sportscotland, described the findings of the report as "deeply concerning and in some cases shocking" and said it should "act as a wake-up call for all of Scottish sport."
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