“The ‘blazer boys’ were getting all the chances”: South Asian men’s experiences of cricket coaching in England

Abstract

In the United Kingdom, recent research documents an over-representation of White participants, coaches, and decision makers within sporting contexts. In contrast Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) groups are under-represented at all levels of sport: from players, coaches, and managers in sport governance. Recent research into the experiences of BAME men and women in sports coaching also shows that inclusive sporting environments, including a diverse workforce, are highly motivating for entry into, and progression through, the coaching pathway. However, significant and powerful barriers exist that prevent the progression of BAME individuals into higher level coaching qualifications and job roles. These barriers lead to the privileging of White men and are therefore described as both raced and gendered. This paper is based on a research project commissioned by the England and Wales Cricket Board in 2014 to explore South Asian male players’ and coaches’ experiences of coaching and progression through coaching pathways. We draw on data collected from 33 semi-structured interviews carried out with a sample of male South Asian players and coaches, from two different geographical areas - London and Yorkshire - and from a sample of clubs with different levels of ethnic diversity. Our analysis showed that South Asian players participate in an environment and culture where they are unlikely to engage in coaching and, even when they do, will not feel supported in progressing to higher roles of influence and power.

Keywords:

• Cricket
• coaching
• racism
• South Asian
• whiteness

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Born and raised in Barbados, Archer qualified for England thanks to his father, who is English. Archer qualified to play for England in March, 2019. This was earlier than expected, following the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) [decision to relax its residency ruling.

2 Black, Asian and minority ethnic is a popular acronym used in policy circles in the UK, used to denote the diverse positions and identities of racialised ethnic groups not included under the label of ethnic majority in the UK. The term includes a huge amount of internal diversity and acknowledge that there are a multitude of experiences of racism, making the use of a catch-all term less than ideal. 

3 Birmingham, Bradford, Kirklees, Leeds, Leicester, London, Luton, Manchester, Sandwell and Slough.

4 The authors would like to acknowledge the contribution of colleagues Leanne Norman, Kevin Hylton and Steve Gilbert to the original report, which is available here: http://eprints.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/782/3/LMU%20-%20South%20Asian%20Cricket%20Coach%20Project%20-%20Final%20Report%20-%20Draft%202%20-%2014-11-2014.pdf.

5 It was common for respondents to incorrectly associate members of the research team as being representatives/employees of the ECB. In this example, the reference to ‘you’ was a conflation of the research team and the ECB.

6 It is important to point out that the ECB no longer has a single technical manual for coaches, but the perception of a White English ‘hidden curriculum’ of old-fashioned techniques – forward defensive, high elbow, line and length – was nevertheless a pervasive perception among our respondents.

7 Space does not allow us to make substantive recommendations here. To see our original recommendations, please see Fletcher et al. (2014).