Cricket in Scotland is under fresh pressure after a damning new report highlighted serious concerns about the organisation's culture and attitude towards women.
An assessment by McKinney HR found there was a toxic environment in the organization and a “high degree of bias towards female employees and players”.
She also said sexism was “very much in evidence” within sport in Scotland, noting that “outdated attitudes and behaviors towards women in the game still prevail, particularly at club level”.
The investigation into the behavior of senior male staff and their behavior towards women was carried out at the same time as an investigation into Cricket Scotland over allegations of widespread racism.
He concluded that there were:
- Cricket has a long legacy of being a men's game, and outdated attitudes and behaviors towards women in the game still prevail, especially at club level.
- Evidence suggesting that over the years women have been treated differently from their male counterparts, and that the special needs of women are often ignored or not taken into account
- There was a period prior to the Changing Boundaries report where individuals in senior leadership positions were overtly discriminatory towards women and displayed characteristics of bullying. During this period, evidence suggests that staff and players lost confidence in CS senior leadership, including the Board of Directors.
Trudy Lindblade, the organization's new president, apologized and pledged to make big changes.
She told STV News that the report is a “damning indictment of how Cricket Scotland was able to accept those behaviors and allow them to continue for a period of time”.
Lindblade said: “It was a really difficult read because there are things that should never happen to anyone in their job, and for that to happen in Scottish cricket – which is a sport we love – to come true and see it out there in black and white, was very difficult reading at the time.
“There is a lot we can do to change. However, it will take time, and it is really important to know that we cannot change our positions overnight. We have a new strategy that we will be launching over the coming weeks and this strategy will focus primarily on the women’s and girls’ game.
STV News“But we can't do it ourselves. We need to make sure we bring everyone affected on this journey with us, so we will talk to the women's team, we will talk to the wider game and we will make sure there is an action plan that goes along with it. This strategy holds us accountable for what we are going to deliver, to make sure that we We are able to improve the game for women in our sport.
“Such behavior is unacceptable in any organization and I apologize to anyone affected by what happened ahead of 2022 in Scottish cricket.
“But change has happened. Those senior leaders and those people are no longer in the organization, so now we're on a journey to make sure we get to a point where we can have trust and transparency, and the people who work within our organization are as passionate as I am about the game.”
After being found to be institutionally racist just two years ago, Monday's report shows that repairing trust in Scottish cricket is an ongoing process.
In July 2022, the entire Cricket Scotland board resigned on the eve of the publication of an independent report condemning hundreds of instances of institutional racism within the organisation.
An independent review by Plan4Sport – titled 'Changing Boundaries' – concluded that refereeing and leadership practices in Scottish cricket were institutionally racist, and followed a consultation process that found 448 separate examples of racism and discrimination within Scottish cricket.
“We have a lot going on in Scottish cricket,” Lindblad said. “We have a Changing Boundaries report, and we're also starting to implement that report, but what I've found is a group of people and staff who are very passionate about what they do and really want to see the sport succeed.
“There's a lot to be done. It's certainly not the way I thought I was going to start my job at Cricket Scotland, in terms of any CEO who takes on a new role, wanting to come in and look at that strategy and be able to drive that from the beginning, but I haven't.” “I haven't had the opportunity to do that yet and I'm really looking forward to it.”
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