If the board decide that I should step down, I will
testimony on the discrimination he faced during his career.
Challenged by committee chair Julian Knight on why Middlesex, based in one of the most diverse cities in the world, were not attracting more players from ethnic backgrounds, O’Farrell said: ‘As we move up the chain, particularly as we get to the academy, we find it becomes more difficult for several reasons.
‘The football and rugby world becomes much more attractive to the Afro-Caribbean community.
‘In terms of the south Asian community, we are finding that they do not want necessarily to commit the same time that is necessary to go to the next step.
‘They prefer to go into other educational fields and then cricket becomes secondary. Part of that is because it is a more time-consuming sport than some others.’
In November 2020, former FA chairman Greg Clarke suggested to the same committee that south Asian people chose careers in IT over sport. Clarke resigned later that day.
Responding to O’Farrell’s comments, Rafiq — who described English cricket as ‘institutionally racist’ to the DCMS committee in November — tweeted: ‘This has just confirmed what an endemic problem the game has. I actually can’t believe what I am listening to. #GiveMeStrength.’
Leading pundit Rainford-Brent, who was the first black woman to play for England and has launched an African-Caribbean engagement programme in Surrey, posted: ‘Honestly these outdated views in the game are exactly why we are in this position.
‘Unfortunately the decision-makers hold on to these myths. “The Black community only like football, and the Asian community only interested in education’’. Seriously the game deserves better.’
Kick It Out, the anti-discrimination group, also condemned O’Farrell on the same day they joined forces with the ECB to ‘identify and address issues of equality, diversity and inclusion within cricket’.
In a statement released to Sportsmail, the group’s chief executive Tony Burnett said: ‘We have seen this kind of sentiment before. It is lazy, unhelpful and misguided to suggest black and Asian communities are not as interested in cricket as their white counterparts.
‘Cricket needs to understand why representation in the sport is not where it should be, but discriminatory stereotypes cannot inform that exploration. This is something our partnership with the ECB will facilitate.’
Following the immediate backlash, O’Farrell released a statement to offer his ‘wholehearted apologies’. He said: ‘I wholly accept this misunderstanding is entirely down to my own lack of clarity and context in the answers I provided.
‘I apologise for any upset or hurt my comments may have caused. That was not my intention.’
In a later interview with Sky Sports News, O’Farrell claimed his comments had been ‘taken out of context’.
Asked if he was considering resigning, he added: ‘Not at this stage. If the board decide I should step down, I will do that.’
Meanwhile, O’Farrell’s Hampshire counterpart Bransgrove came under fire following his evidence to MPs and was forced to refute a damaging allegation put to him by committee member Kevin Brennan.
The Labour MP said to Bransgrove: ‘It’s been put to me that at the chairs meeting on November 19, you were heard to say, “The trouble is they have forgotten the value of white men”, and that you, in response to the Rafiq revelations, said, “I know what racism is like — I am a white man over 60”.’
Bransgrove described the allegations as ‘absolute nonsense’, but said later: ‘I do know what prejudice is like, I know what it is like to be overlooked for reasons that are outside of your control.’
In response to a separate question on whether counties could hit diversity targets, Bransgrove replied: ‘In some areas I think we are already there and probably overachieving in some areas.’
Speaking to Sky Sports News, Rafiq added: ‘I found it staggering to hear that one of the chairs felt that they were actually over-achieving in this space.
‘It just shows what a long way we have got to go. Clearly you have a demographic of county chairs that don’t see the problem.
‘These were public comments. It makes you think what their private beliefs are. Today has shown everyone where the problem lies.’
MIKE O’FARRELL MIDDLESEX CHAIRMAN
Football and rugby becomes much more attractive to the Afro-Caribbean community. In terms of the south Asian community, they prefer to go into other educational fields and then cricket becomes secondary. ROD BRANSGROVE HAMPSHIRE CHAIRMAN
I know what prejudice is like, I know what it is like to be overlooked for reasons out of your control. In some areas we are already there (hitting diversity targets) and probably overachieving in some areas.