GEORGE DOBELL: Azeem Rafiq has done the game a service in forcing us to have these uncomfortable conversations. At this stage, anyone who denies the problem is the problem
"Our prices discriminate because we can't". So says the sign on Springfield Heights, the snooty shopping centre in The Simpsons.
But it could equally apply to cricket in England and Wales. As the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) report makes clear: the sport has become so exclusive that, while the boys of Eton and Harrow play a fixture at the home of cricket every year, the England women's Test team has never had the pleasure.
Everywhere we look, there are barriers to entry. The game has spent much of the past two decades behind a paywall on TV. Tickets to watch the England men's side cost three-figure sums and the school playing fields have long ago become shopping centres and housing estates.
Even if a promising youngster makes it over all those hurdles, they risk being priced out of the county pathway system by the cost of kit and coaching. Years of short-term decisions have reduced cricket's catchment area to a fraction of what it should be.
In truth, the sport does a pretty good job of discriminating in lots of less subtle ways. While we might have thought we had become inured to tales of discrimination, there are shocking stories within the ICEC report.
The ICEC panel [supplied]
The story of the woman who feared for her safety due to predatory behaviour. The story of the girl who stopped playing because male members of her club kept 'sexting' her. Or the story of the Muslim man who had alcohol poured on him and bacon thrown at him. Another says he was forced to drink urine. Again and again, it is clear that a drinking culture has excluded people.
While there will be a temptation to dismiss such incidents as the behaviour of one or two 'bad apples', the evidence suggests the institutions of the game contribute to the problem.
Why is it, for example, that in Inspiring Generations, the ECB's strategy document, there is no mention of cricket in the African-Caribbean community? Why is it that, despite the South Asian Cricket Academy proving it works in developing talent that has been missed by the mainstream, the ECB still decline to provide any funding to it?
And why is it that while 87 per cent of Pakistani and Bangladeshi respondents, 82 per cent of Indian respondents and 75 per cent of black respondents to the report said they had experienced discrimination, only one in four reported it?
Really, who can blame them? They've seen what happened to Azeem Rafiq, who has been forced out of the country by threats; or Jahid Ahmed, who is still waiting for a meaningful response two years after reporting his allegations. So you end up with a situation where Colin Graves says he's never heard a complaint about racism. Well, would you bother to tell him?
"At this stage, anyone who denies the problem is the problem"
You imagine Azeem felt vindicated reading this report. Even now, after all the confessions and upheld complaints, there are those who refuse to accept his testimony.
Even now, there are those more interested in trying to discredit him than accepting the need for change.
This report makes it clear that his experiences weren't unusual. It was just he was unusually determined to have them heard. He has done the game a service in forcing us to have these uncomfortable conversations. At this stage, anyone who denies the problem is the problem.
The report does offer solutions. In some cases, such as the recommendation of setting up a new regulatory body to deal with disciplinary issues, it will require the ECB to give up some of its power. In others, such as the recommendation for equal pay for men and women or the recommendation for cost-free pathways, they will prove financially costly. Some will, no doubt, use that as an excuse for inaction.
The same response was used when there was a demand for seatbelts in cars. And when it became illegal to smoke in pubs and restaurants. They said it when cyclists had to wear helmets and ships had to have lifeboats. Doing the right thing costs money. It shouldn't be a permanent impediment to doing it.
Azeem Rafiq [Getty Images]
There are signs of hope, though. For one thing, in publishing a report like this, the game is at last acknowledging its problem. And only by diagnosing the disease can we start to think about treatment. This report can be a significant step on the road of progress.
For another, it is clear the sport requires new markets. With income fixed and costs up, the ECB has to find ways to increase the game's appeal and attract new spectators to it. But we know there are groups out there - women and people of colour, most obviously - who have been knocking on the door for years. All we have to do is open it.
That's the optimistic view, anyway: that this is an opportunity. A crossroads. If the sport takes the right turn here, there's no reason it won't prosper for 100 years to come with a larger market and wider pool of players and spectators.
The authors of this report have done a fine job in spelling out the enormity of the issue. It's a report that pulls no punches. It's all the better for it.
It's not a perfect report. There is almost no mention of disability, for example, which seems an oversight. And the apology demanded of the ECB would appear to apply to "women’s and girls’ cricket" and "black cricket" only. Some people of Asian origin may find that surprising.
If the sport doesn't take the decisive action required? Well, it will continue to shrink. It will continue to exclude the markets which could save it. Perhaps it will become the preserve of the 'elite'. You suspect some would rather like that.
We have to ensure they don't prevail. There is no reason cricket shouldn't be a sport for everyone. A game for the back alley as much as the village green. A game which unites rather than excludes. This report can be a turning point.
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