Wiltshire Cricket launches Inclusion and Diversity Campaign - Opening Up

At Wiltshire Cricket we are committed to ensuring cricket is a sport that all can access and enjoy regardless of their age, gender, race, disability, sexual orientation, background, or circumstances. We are therefore pleased to launch our Inclusion Campaign – Opening Up.

As part of this campaign, we commit to embedding inclusive practice across our organisation and supporting the cricket community to do the same. We are passionate about being representative of the communities we serve and ensuring all are given a voice. Through working with the whole of the cricketing community across the county we will better understand experiences, areas of strength and barriers that we need to work together to remove so all can enjoy the many benefits of our sport.

Never has this work and development been so needed and so timely. Recent research shared by Sport England has shown that those who have previously found it hard to be active have been disproportionately impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. For example, those from Asian, Black and Other ethnic backgrounds have seen participation drop whilst the participation gap between lower and higher socio-economic groups has widened.

Our campaign will aim to make cricket in Wiltshire more inclusive and diverse. We will play our part and lead this drive by focusing on several areas initially. These include:

• Community Focus Groups
  We will be running a number of focus groups over the coming months to better understand the experiences of those from various communities within cricket as well as the needs of those not currently engaged in our sport. We will be sharing more details of these groups shortly.
   
• Players’ survey
  We will be reviewing in depth the findings from the latest ECB players’ survey to understand the meaning and impact for Wiltshire and how we need to develop the game to be more accessible to more people.
   
• Governance improvements
  In partnership with the ECB we will be developing a Governance Action Plan to identify where we need to improve as a Board and outline how we will achieve this. This includes introducing a new Board gender diversity of 30% as well as ensuring the relevant policies and procedures are in place to support a more inclusive and diverse organisation.
   
• Board recruitment
  A key part of our governance improvements will be our new Board recruitment drive. We will be looking to recruit Board members. This recruitment will be looking to attract individuals from more diverse backgrounds and with a wider range of experiences and specialisms. This will ensure we are more representative of the communities we serve across the County as well as diversifying the skills and experiences we can call upon as a Board. If you are interested in finding out more get in touch.

At the same time as driving the change we are also providing a call to action to the Wiltshire cricketing community to come together to make a change. We can only achieve a fully inclusive sport if we come together to achieve it. Here are some ways you can get involved and join the campaign:

• Share your stories – how is your club providing for your local community
• Join the focus groups to let us know about your experiences (more details to follow)
• Contact us to find out more about getting involved as a Board member
• Be vocal with your commitment to inclusive cricket
• Use the #OpeningUp on social media to add to the campaign

For more information about the campaign and associated work streams please contact Pete Sykes at [email protected]