FURY AFTER RACE SCANDAL CRICKET COACH KEEPS JOB
Lawyer slams player abuse
One of Scotland’s top cricket coaches has been allowed to continue in his job – despite being found guilty of a catalogue of sickening racism.
John Blain was found to have repeatedly cal led Asian players “P** i ”, by the disciplinary commission last week.
But the 44-year- old is still listed as director of cricket at the elite Grange Cricket Club in Edinburgh, where he has worked since 2015.
Giving evidence, former Yorkshire teammate Azeem Rafiq said: “John used the word ‘P**i’ a lot when referring to Pakistani people… rather than apologise or stop using the word ‘P**i’, John simply said it was like calling a British person a Brit.”
Another ex-teammate, Majid Haq, also said: “There was a picture of a team from Pakistan. On seeing this, John used the phrase, ‘Oh, the P***s played here.’
“John tried to defend himself. He said words to the effect of ‘ No, P**i is quite similar to how Australians are called Aussies and New Zealanders were Kiwis.”
Cricket Scotland was found to be institutionally racist in a damning report last year. It emerged 448 examples of racism and discrimination had been identified within the Scottish game. Solicitor Aamer Anwar played a leading role in exposing the scandal and has spoken out on the findings days after Scottish Cricket chairman Anjan Luthra stepped down over the failure to tackle racism.
He said: “There has also been a total failure to address the embarrassing fact that on Monday four minority ethnic members of the Equality Diversity and Inclusion group chose to resign.
“They al l delivered a damning indictment of Cricket Scotland in their resignations. The group was set up in the aftermath of the exposure of racism at Cricket Scotland and their complaints echoed those of my clients.
“Importantly Majid Haq feels vindicated by the finding of guilt... against John Blain. Majid has made similar allegations against Mr Blain, he is still to appear at the Scottish hearing into the allegations. In the last six months there has been a systematic attempt to exclude and silence my clients in the hope they will go away and those responsible for the racism can just get on with cricket.”
Both John Blain and The Grange Cricket Club were approached for comment.
B lain did not attend the hearing.