ECB want to make Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan compulsory after Yorkshire failed to follow code when appointing Darren Gough as their managing director
- ECB will take a more proactive approach to enforcing their diversity guidelines
- They want to make the code compulsory in their next financial agreement
- Yorkshire failed to comply with the code when appointing Darren Gough
The ECB will push to make their Equality, Diversity and Inclusion code compulsory for the counties in their next financial agreement with the first-class game covering four seasons from 2025.
Sportsmail revealed on Friday that Yorkshire failed to comply with the code when appointing Darren Gough as their managing director as the club did not run an open recruitment process, but the ECB are unable to issue any sanctions as their 12-point EDI Action Plan published amidst much fanfare 12 months ago is not mandatory.
The ECB will take a more proactive approach to enforcing their diversity guidelines in the future however, by linking them to their funding of the domestic game. The governing body currently provide around £4million-a-year to each of the 18 counties as part of the County Partnership Agreement, which is due to expire in 2024.
Darren Gough was appointed the club’s managing director of cricket this week – a move that contravened ECB’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan
The ECB have already secured the bulk of their income for the next cycle in the form of a £200m-a-year broadcast deal with Sky Sports, and will open negotiations with the counties over their funding arrangements next year.
Executives at Lord’s have been frustrated for a number of years at the apparent reluctance of some counties to embrace their push for greater diversity within the game, particularly with regard to recruitment, and are prepared to link funding to EDI targets for the first time.
Counties could be rewarded financially for assembling diverse playing and executive teams which reflect their local populations in the same way they are for producing England players, for example, while those who do not hit such targets would receive less funding.
By appointing Gough without advertising the job or interviewing other candidates Yorkshire breached point 11 of the ECB’s EDI Action Plan, which stipulates that counties should run ‘fair recruitment processes’ using ‘anonymised recruitment tools.’
The Action Plan also stresses the need for improved education and dressing room culture, as well as better reporting mechanisms for bullying and racism complaints.
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