Glamorgan chairman Gareth Williams on county's bid to tackle racism in cricket
- Published
Gareth Williams succeeded Barry O'Brien as Glamorgan chairman in 2018
Glamorgan chairman Gareth Williams has set out how the county plans to improve its diversity on and off the field.
It comes after the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) last week launched a wide-ranging action plan to tackle discrimination and racism in cricket.
The five-point plan - including "12 tangible actions" - was issued following allegations made by Azeem Rafiq and a number of other players.
"There is no place for racism and it has to be eliminated," said Williams.
"What is encouraging is that this is a collective plan, it's not a plan which has been imposed from above from the ECB. On the contrary, it's a plan both the recreational game and professional game have been working on together.
"A lot of the features of it are things that we've already been working on, but there's still a huge amount of work to do.
"One of the things we're trying to encourage is whistleblowing and that's a process which is currently taking place within Glamorgan."
Earlier this month, former Yorkshire spinner Rafiq told a Digital, Culture, Media & Sport select committee that cricket is "institutionally racist".
Rafiq's allegations against Yorkshire have been echoed by former academy player Irfan Amjad and another anonymous player, while Jahid Ahmed, Maurice Chambers and Zoheb Sharif have also made claims about their time with Essex.
Asked if anybody had come forward with similar complaints about Glamorgan, Williams told BBC Sport Wales: "Not since that [Rafiq's testimony] has taken place, I'm not aware of it.
"One simply doesn't know because there is a process for whistleblowing which is ongoing. I very much hope that nothing comes through but we shall have to deal with it if it does."
In July, a former Glamorgan cricketer who accused the county of institutional racism said he believes they are now "trying to knock down barriers".
Mohsin Arif met Glamorgan's chief executive Hugh Morris to discuss his experiences after saying in a Telegraph article last year that there was preferential treatment to white players.
Arif has since said Glamorgan supports cricketers from minority ethnic communities to play at the top level and he now works with the county as a coach.
"I think the way we dealt with that was a good example of how we can help to overcome the issue of discrimination in sport," said Williams.
"That particular individual, our chief executive Hugh Morris had a very long discussion with him and was able to reassure him in a number of respects.
"He is now a consultant coach who coaches within our pathway system and coaches regularly here."
Prem Sisodiya was named Glamorgan's young player of the year for 2020
One of the areas Glamorgan are looking to improve is the number of players from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds who make the step up from playing recreational cricket to a professional career in the sport.
Current players Kiran Carlson and Prem Sisodiya are the first Welsh-born cricketers of Asian heritage to play first-team matches for the county.
That is despite the fact that almost two-thirds of the 600 cricketers who play in the Cardiff Midweek Cricket League are British-Asian.
"It's a really big issue for us," said Williams.
"In Wales, people from ethnically diverse backgrounds make up around 5.2% of the overall population. It's 19% in Cardiff and it's quite high in Newport and Swansea. The plain fact is, historically, there must be a huge number of talented prospective cricketers there and we haven't been able to get them through.
"We've been working on that for some time. In particular, there are two things which are quite important and relevant.
"We are going out to schools and particularly targeting those schools which have a strong ethnically diverse background, with a view to firstly encouraging [pupils] to play and take part in the All Stars programme and Dynamos programme, and also to bring them to the stadium so they can play here and get a feel of what it's like to be a part of the Glamorgan family. That's the first thing.
"The second thing is to make their experience one where they are comfortable. We want to ensure we have more coaches from a similar background to them."
As well as improving diversity on the field, Glamorgan are trying to do the same at board level.
One of the aims in the ECB's five-point plan is for each organisation to deliver board diversity (30% female, representative ethnicity) by April 2022.
"The most important thing is everything comes from the top. The culture of the club comes from its board," said Williams.
"I think one of the most important things which we have taken over the last few years has been to extend the diversity of our board. In particular, we have two outstanding British-Asian members of our board who contribute enormously to our board.
"One of them, Rez Hassan, reports to the board at every meeting about the progress we're making in the overall context of equality, diversity and inclusivity.
"Perhaps I should emphasise we haven't done this because of the ECB plan. On the contrary, I've been chairman of the club for about three years now and those two members were a part of the board before I arrived.
"So it's not a case of knee-jerk reactions to tick boxes. Quite the contrary, they are long-established members of the board who have been making contributions for a very long time."