Connor appointed MCC’S first woman president
» Connor to become famous club’s first woman president hkey ambition will be to increase the game’s diversity
Clare Connor, the first woman president in the Marylebone Cricket Club’s 233-year history, has described her appointment as the honour of her life. The 43-year-old former England captain, who was officially installed in the role yesterday, added that her new role was “an amazing privilege and honour”.
Clare Connor pronounced being named president of the Marylebone Cricket Club as the honour of her life last night after becoming the first woman to hold the role in its 233-year history.
“It’s absolutely top of the pile,” said the former England captain, who led her country to their first Ashes triumph in 42 years in 2005, is now the England and Wales Cricket Board’s managing director of women’s cricket, and has been awarded an MBE, OBE and CBE for her services to the game.
“It really is right at the top of the list of the ways that I’ve been recognised. It’s an amazing privilege and honour and I’m moved by it. I love the game of cricket, I love what it stands for, I love what it can do for people’s lives and communities and families and young people. This opportunity is one I’m absolutely going to grab and do my best by.”
Connor’s nomination for the role was officially announced at the MCC’S annual general meeting yesterday by its president, Kumar Sangakkara, who had broken the news to her before the coronavirus lockdown began. Admitting it had been “really hard to keep it a secret”, she said: “I was very, very shocked to get that kind of a call. I can remember exactly where I was. I was standing in my spare bedroom. I could feel myself going very red and just a feeling of disbelief coupled with amazing excitement and joy.
“It’s just such an honour and I didn’t think for a minute that would come my way. That hasn’t died away.”
The 43-year-old had initially expected to take up her new role in October, but after the coronavirus crisis prevented former Sri Lanka captain Sangakkara from fully participating in MCC life this summer, his tenure was extended by a year, with hers commencing on Oct 1, 2021. Connor vowed to use her two years as president designate and then president to continue fighting to make cricket, and one of its oldest institutions, more diverse. She said: “My belief is that the game is for everybody and we haven’t always behaved that way as a game. And that’s not a criticism of anybody. The game has, for a long time, been set up in this country and overseas to cater for men and boys. And we’re at an exciting crossroads, in society more widely and in sport and in cricket, where there is a huge commitment to making the game more inclusive and more diverse.
“And that’s not just about gender.
That’s all areas of inclusion and diversity.” Connor, who hoped her new role would “dovetail” with her ECB job, added: “There’s a long way to go before it’s more gender balanced. Nobody needs convincing any more that that’s the right ambition.” That includes at the MCC, which ahead of last year’s AGM announced a record intake of 134 women as full members of the club. But that took the total to only 217 out of 18,000 in an institution that did not even permit female members until 1998.
“Yes, that will be a focus,” said Connor, who first visited Lord’s as “starry-eyed, cricket-obsessed nine-year-old girl at a time when women were not welcome in the Long Room” and was only granted honorary membership of the MCC herself in 2009.
“I’m sure it’s already moved in the last year in a significantly more positive direction, the number of overall female members.
“So, the club is committed to that and I think my appointment is a tangible symbol of that commitment.” Connor said the same applied when it came to the fallout from last year’s annual meeting, at which it was disclosed that a female member had been assaulted in the Lord’s pavilion the previous summer and that nobody had come to her aid.
It was also alleged that an incident of anti-semitic abuse had been referred to the police.
That prompted the MCC to introduce a new code of conduct for members, and Connor was confident the problem had been “clamped down on very hard”.
But she added: “No organisation should be taking their eye off the ball in that regard.”
Sangakkara, who last year became the club’s first non-british president, said: “I am thrilled that Clare has accepted the invitation to become the next president of MCC. The club has a significant role to play in cricket’s global appeal and with her influence, I am sure she will make a considerable contribution to MCC.
“With the extended lead-in time until she takes office, she will have an important part to play as president designate.”