“No place for racism within the sport” : David Richardson

Lahore : Following a complaint made by Cricket Namibia under the ICC Anti-Racism Code during the ICC Intercontinental Cup fixture between Afghanistan and Namibia played in Greater Noida, India, from 10-12 April 2016, the ICC has announced that a confidential conciliation process has today (Monday) been successfully undertaken by relevant parties from both teams in Edinburgh, and a consensual resolution of the matter achieved.

For the first time since the procedure was established, the ICC engaged an accredited mediator with extensive experience in race relations issues and sports disciplinary matters to act as the conciliator, as envisaged under the ICC Anti-Racism Code.

The conciliator has advised that all parties engaged with the process constructively and in good faith and that, at the conclusion of the discussions, there was an acceptance by all parties that some of the offence caused by words used by some of the Afghanistan players resulted from cultural differences, a lack of sensitivity and misunderstanding.  Nevertheless, the Afghanistan Cricket Board accepted that certain words spoken by some of their players in the presence of a Namibian player could reasonably have been expected to cause offence.

Accordingly, the Afghanistan Cricket Board and the Afghanistan players in question have offered an apology to the Namibian player involved, whilst stressing that there was no intention to cause offence on the basis of race or act in a way that would constitute a breach of the ICC Anti-Racism Code.

Additionally, the Afghanistan Cricket Board has undertaken that their national playing squad shall attend an education and training course to be organised by the ICC, which shall focus on the responsibilities of international cricketers in relation to issues of race, language and cultural sensitivity.

ICC Chief Executive, David Richardson, commented: “I would like to thank all parties involved for their cooperation in and commitment to the conciliation process.  I am also extremely grateful to the conciliator for his professional approach.  The ICC would like to stress that there is no place for racism within the sport; we are proud of the diversity of the global cricket community and accordingly place the utmost importance on every participant according respect to their fellow players.”

Under the ICC Anti-Racism Code, with all parties having agreed that the conciliation process has reached a consensual resolution of the matter, the matter is closed and no further comment will be made.