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A message from Gloucestershire Cricket Chair David Jones

9 December 2021

This is my first December update since taking the post of Chair back in April, and it has been a whirlwind eight months having succeeded John Hollingdale in this most privileged of positions. This is an exciting time for Gloucestershire Cricket on and off the field, not least in seeing the team continue to make strides forward. The recent appointments of Performance Director, Steve Snell, and Head Coach, Dale Benkenstein, together with a number of exciting player recruitments, has us all looking forward to next season with relish, particularly as we are confirmed to play in Division One of the County Championship.

The reality at this time, however, is that there’s only one agenda item dominating the thoughts of me, the Executive Board and senior leadership at the Club, and that is Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). As has been widely described in recent weeks, this is a watershed moment for the game and our collective response on racism within cricket has sharpened minds and requires urgent attention.

I was absolutely horrified to hear Azeem Rafiq’s testimony, alongside many other players who have come forward to recount their experiences of racism in the game. At Gloucestershire four months ago we were saddened to hear one of our greatest ever bowlers, David ‘Syd’ Lawrence, speak of his suffering in the early 1980s, and the racism he had been subjected to back then. We apologised to David immediately, and we cannot thank him enough for being willing and able to work with the Club going forwards in our wider response to these seismic events.

Put simply, cricket as a whole needs to change and with it, Gloucestershire Cricket needs to change as well. There is absolutely no complacency amongst senior leadership that this is someone else’s problem; we know we need to take immediate steps to focus on EDI across the whole spectrum of the Club’s activities.

People are right to call for immediate action, and we understand that. We do also need to ensure we comprehend the full scale of the issues facing Gloucestershire Cricket regarding racism and wider inequalities in the game in our region. We have established a helpline - 0117 910 8003 - that people can call to report their experiences of racism in our county – be it at the professional or recreational level – which can help us to understand the scale and breadth of the issue and how we can improve as an organisation to ensure these things never happen again.

Last week, the Board and senior leadership attended an excellent EDI workshop facilitated by Pam Brown, the ECB’s lead in this area, which forms part of a wider educational programme that the Club is now undertaking. All members of staff, Executive Board representatives and other partner employers (for example, our stewarding teams) will undergo EDI training with a particular focus on “Unconscious Bias”. Working with the ECB is going to be key to making these changes but we also recognise that it is essential that we continue to develop locally as a stand-alone County Club. As such we have identified a number of Club-led initiatives including ensuring that all non-playing recruitment at the Club will be anonymised, and creating an EDI working group within Gloucestershire Cricket to guarantee that, internally, employees are provided a safe space for conversations around EDI. We also believe that the lived experience of our past, current and future players and employees are essential to us being able to move forwards and we will be actively running listening and learning sessions with some of them in the New Year.

We strongly support the ECB’s recently published 12-point plan to combat racism in the game which will mean change is required in the way Gloucestershire Cricket is governed. At the last Executive Board meeting the debate centred on this one topic of EDI. We agreed to actively review our governance structures, especially as the 12-point plan calls out the need to ensure underrepresented groups have a bigger role on boards. We will of course report back on these findings and what this means to our Club for Members and supporters. We will move as quickly as we possibly can on all of these issues, and trust that we have the full support of our fan base in tackling racism and inequality. It is our stated aim for the Club to be the very best representative of our communities, and so we shall look to ensure that changes we make help us to be an organisation that everyone – regardless of race, gender, faith, sexuality and experiences – can be proud of, and that we can truly state that cricket is an inclusive game for all.

I’d like to send my warmest wishes to all our Members and supporters for the winter months and would like to wish you all a happy time over the Christmas holiday and a Happy New Year.

David Jones

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