Anjan Luthra, Chair and Director of Cricket Scotland, announced his resignation amidst accusations of mishandling issues of racism in the sport. The post’s captions read, ‘It’s time the Scottish Cricket community hears the truth.’ It also contained a copy of his resignation letter, which stated the reason for his sudden resignation and well wishes to the community.
Earlier last year, an independent investigation uncovered 448 instances of institutional racism within the game. The review was conducted after Majid Haq’s allegations hit the public in an interview with Sky Sports news. Though cricket is not a major sport in Scotland, it still has a significant following with its teams and games listed on sites offering sports betting online.
Read on as we explore the new turbulence in the Scottish Cricket scene, Anjan Luthra’s resignation, and its impact on the governing body. It appears that these events will kickstart the long-overdue fight against racism in Scotland
Luthra was appointed in October to rebuild the organization’s reputation after the independent report came out last July. However, the organization recently came under fire as members of its anti-racism and equality, diversity, and inclusion advisory group resigned due to its poor handling of racism.
Luthra published an update last week, claiming that the organizing body had made progress, and it received criticism from an anti-racism group Running Out Racism. The group dismissed his comments, calling it ‘unsubstantiated nonsense’ and describing the update as ‘tone deaf’ and ‘arrogant.’
On Friday, the ROR group published another statement criticizing Luthra’s leadership, saying that ‘he is not the right person to lead our sports’ and highlighting the lack of progress.
Speaking to Sky Sports News in an interview, Luthra expressed concerns about objectivity, stating that his and Sportscotland’s missions did not align. He wrote in his statement that there was a ‘…huge over-involvement from the lobby group’ and that it could cause huge conflicts.
He also stated in the interview that he was “filled with enthusiasm “and had been working “incredibly hard” with the team. In addition, he mentioned that without Sportscotland’s support, his plans would be impossible and that he couldn’t stand by them.
Cricket Scotland released a statement later on Friday that read, “Cricket Scotland is in contact with Sportscotland to put in place short-term measures to enable the body to continue delivering its programs of work, and we appreciate their continued support”
“This includes progressing the appointing a fixed term head to handle the ‘Changing The boundaries’ job and an interim chief executive officer. The cricket season is just four weeks away, and there is a lot to be done, and the team remains focused on delivery in all areas.”
Aamer Anwar, Majid Haq and Qassim Sheikh’s solicitor, who spoke up about the racist abuse they suffered during their international careers with Scotland, welcomed Anjan Luthra’s resignation from the board, stating that in his six months as chair, ‘he failed to engage or deliver with key stakeholders, victims and Run Out Racism.’
They also recalled the failure of the chair to address the resignation of four minority members of the EDI.
Fans of the sport gathered under Luthra’s comment section to support his decision, with one user claiming that he did what he ‘realistically’ could with the resources available to him and others criticizing his failure to engage with the Running Out Racism group. Many fans, however, agreed that his resignation was a responsible decision.
Running out racism also stated in response to Luthra’s resignation, ‘People make mistakes, but to blame others rather than owning them in any way is disappointing.’
The entire cricket world is waiting to see what steps the next chair and director will do to end racism in the sport of cricket now that Anjan Luthra has resigned and the board is working hard to find a replacement for him. Fans have also empathized with victims of racism across all sports.
