Stoneywood-Dyce president Jan Stander believes sportscotland can be Scottish cricket’s silver lining.
An independent review into allegations of racism in Scottish cricket has established the governance and leadership of the sport, Cricket Scotland, to be institutionally racist.
The board at Cricket Scotland resigned on Sunday ahead of the report’s publication in response to the findings and recommendations from the review.
As a result funding body sportscotland, which commissioned the report, has effectively taken control of Cricket Scotland’s operations until October 2023.
Stander, who has worked for both Cricket Scotland and sportscotland in the past, believes the body is best suited to bring about the necessary changes not just to cricket but to sport in general in Scotland.
The Stoneywood-Dyce player-coach said: “I’m glad sportscotland will be leading the way on this. I’ve had the benefit of working for both Cricket Scotland as coach of the under-15 side and as an employee of sportscotland so I know how they go about their work.
“Whatever procedures are put in place by sportscotland will be implemented across the board in in all sports they work with, not just cricket.
“With them leading the changes which are clearly needed it is the one silver lining on what is a dark day for Scottish cricket.”
Yorkshire claims the catalyst for change
Accusations from Azeem Rafiq of racism during his time at Yorkshire led to former Scottish international Majid Haq calling for an investigation into possible racism in Scottish cricket and the findings have been damning.
Former Scotland international Stander is saddened accusations had to be made before changes could be implemented.
He said: “It is a sad day for cricket to be highlighted this way but it is an opportunity to bring about real change and prevent this from happening again in cricket or in sport in general.
“You have to ask yourself – if the incidents at Yorkshire did not become public would we be where we are today?
“It’s a lot to take in and is a real eye-opener.
“Cricket is the first sport to be highlighted in this way but ultimately this report will help bring about change not just in other sports in Scotland but in the whole of the United Kingdom.
“As a governing body I know child protection has always been a big focus and it is usually the case where a high profile case around child protection brings matters like this to the forefront.
“It shouldn’t be the case that a major incident, failure or catastrophe has to happen before proper conversations happen and new procedures are put in place but that is where we are at.
“In this instance it was the incidents at Yorkshire which led to wider discussions taking place.”
Cricket Scotland lacking infrastructure
It is the absence of any policies, procedures or mechanisms in place at Cricket Scotland to deal with accusations of this type which have come as the biggest shock.
But Stander is not surprised given the infrastructure at Scottish cricket’s governing body.
He said: “When I think of Cricket Scotland I think of an organisation which 20 years ago was run by four or five people with some cricket development officers around the country working on a regional basis.
“Today it has full-time players, an international women’s team and age-group and regional teams under its umbrella.
“It has gone from being a small enterprise to a medium-sized company with global exposure which should have been operating as a blue chip company.
“It’s incredible there isn’t a marketing officer or a communications manager there and those are roles which typically are put in place before human resource positions are filled.”
More equality needed
While the focus has understandably been on racism Stander believes work need to be done on ensuring there is greater equality in the game in Scotland.
He said: “I think we have been progressive in the north of Scotland. We’ve got a lot of good young Asian players being given opportunities but we still have improvements to make.
“I spoke on behalf of Stoneywood-Dyce when this enquiry started and I realised very quickly this was going to go much deeper than any player and it was a root and branch review of the sport and how it operates.
“For example at my club we have one female toilet and it is for visitors to use.
“We don’t have a dedicated female changing room but we should have given how much the women’s game has grown in the last 10 years.
“But to put something like that in place we need local authority support and funding.”
