DIVERSITYAT LAST

Warwickshire first to use Rooney Rule in search for coach

Warwickshire have become the first of the 18 first- class counties to implement the rooney rule in their recruitment process for a new first-team coach.

The rule, named after the pioneer who first introduced it to american Football, calls for at least one black, asian or minority ethnic candidate to be interviewed for any coaching position.

warwickshire chief executive stuart cain said: ‘ There shouldn’t be a barrier in the mind of anybody with the right experience who wants to apply for this job. so, we think it’s right to adopt the principle of the rooney rule in the same way as many of the world’s leading sports organisations have.

‘Birmingham is one of the Uk’s, if not europe’s, most diverse cities and we have to reflect this when holding a mirror up to the club and how we operate at every level, from the board down.’

Jim Troughton was sacked last week following a 30-year association at edgbaston and the Midlands county opted for an open recruitment policy.

The eFL faced criticism last week for allowing its 72 member clubs the option of whether to adopt such criteria when looking to change personnel.

surrey’s Vikram solanki is the only non-white British coach to hold a position as either director of cricket or first Xi coach in the domestic game — his appointment came in June, less than a month before the ecB announced measures to broaden their inclusion and diversity strategy in this area.

Those included a pledge to ‘continue to work with the first-class counties in recommending the adoption of the rooney rule for all coaching roles across the game’.

The ecB, which yesterday took a step to address its own homogeny by appointing ron kalifa to its board of directors, also reserve the right to withhold a portion of the counties’ annual funding, which ranges from £ 3.6million to £ 3.8m, if they do not hit diversity targets, which have been set to ensure each county staff reflects the club’s community and local demographics.

The decision to recognise Birmingham’s multiculturalism by publicly appealing to suitable BaMe candidates to apply before the November 14 deadline follows Sportsmail’s investigation in september which laid bare the lack of diversity in english cricket. Two- thirds of counties, including warwickshire, do not employ a non-white coach in their senior ranks.

Until the appointment of Troughton’s successor, director of cricket Paul Farbrace will run the club’s winter training programme.