TONY BRIAN knows he will likely be targeted, discredited or shouted down.

In choosing to be one of the first significant figures to speak out to question the contents and methodology of last year’s Changing The Boundaries report that concluded that Cricket Scotland was an “institutionally racist” organisation among other flaws, the former chair is aware he risks being labelled by some as a dinosaur at best, an in-denial racist at worst. That is a burden he is willing to shoulder.

Brian resigned his position as chair on grounds of ill health four months before the investigation into Scottish cricket reached its conclusion in July 2022 but even before that point he had concerns about the direction of travel.

Those centred on sportscotland’s decision to deploy Plan4Sport, a small consultancy with whom they had worked in the past, to follow on from claims of racist behaviour made by former Scotland players, Majid Haq and Qasim Sheikh, as well as comments made by former sportscotland chief executive, Stewart Harris, that referenced “the problem of racism within cricket in Scotland” at the outset. This, Brian believes, prejudiced the investigation before it had even begun.

He has carried out his own counter-investigation and believes his findings show that Plan4Sport was unsuitable for such a wide-ranging piece of work, in particular given their existing ties to sportscotland. He believes the findings of their report to be deeply flawed, with little evidence having been presented to support the 448 examples of alleged institutional racism, points out that pivotal figures, including former head coaches and chief executives, were not asked to supply testimony, and that the “up to £1m” of public money spent on the investigation was squandered in bringing the whole thing to light.

Brian knows he is not the only person uneasy with the investigation and the findings laid out in the report and is willing to accept criticism that comes his way for speaking out.

“I think a lot of people have been alarmed by some of the social media activity there’s been on this topic,” he told the Herald. “It’s always a difficult thing to go against a review which is involved in the area of racism because people tend to conflate disagreeing with the review with some sort of racial prejudice. Which is quite frankly ridiculous but it’s the way things tend to get done. Am I expecting to get some criticism from people for this? Yes I am.

“Let’s be forthright about this: clearly there have been racist incidents in cricket as there have been in many other sports and throughout society generally. But whether that means Cricket Scotland is institutionally racist is completely different. I don’t believe it is. And we’ve not seen any evidence from the review that that is the case. A review into Scottish cricket and racism would have been a worthwhile thing to do if it had been done properly.

I’d like the review to now be reviewed itself and have that institutionally racist accusation withdrawn. That would be the underpinning for having Cricket Scotland removed from special measures. And if that was to happen there would need to be serious discussion about the finances of Cricket Scotland going forward.”

Brian has taken the time to construct his own findings having been struck immediately that the Changing the Boundaries report’s conclusions didn’t chime with his own experiences or feelings.

The Herald: Tony Brian (right)Tony Brian (right) (Image: Getty)

“I needed to spend some time to analyse what had happened, to study the report and to get FOI [Freedom of Information] requests back so I had more information at my disposal. And now I’ve given my own take on it.

“When I looked at the report on the day of its publication, I had no indication of what was coming. There were two or three things that struck me immediately that didn’t seem to reflect what I knew of Scottish cricket or what I considered to be necessary for a qualitative review. I wasn’t on the board at that time [who resigned en masse the day before publication] having retired a few months earlier but I could see from their perspective that it was a very difficult situation. They were being asked to consider the report and then take on an action plan that was completely impractical. And they were right to express those fears. Cricket Scotland is still in crisis, without a board of normal size, without a chair, on its third interim CEO in 10 months – it’s not in a happy place.”

Brian, who served as chair from 2015 to 2022, is also of the opinion that the subsequent fall-out from the report’s publication has been thoroughly damaging to the sport as a whole and, potentially, cost Scotland the chance to become a full member of the ICC [International Cricket Council] this year and all the benefits that would have arisen as a result, at both elite and grassroots level.

“I was reasonably confident that would have happened,” he added. “We started the process in late 2021 and I know there were discussions with the ICC even in the week before the report came out. We can never say that it [full membership] was definitely going to go ahead as there were a few criteria still to be met and then there would have been a vote among the other ICC members. But we were on the right track and I was fairly optimistic it was going to happen. That would have been transformational for the game from top to bottom.”

The biggest unanswered question is just what motivation sportscotland would have had in pushing Cricket Scotland down this path.

“It’s something I couldn’t possibly comment on as I simply don’t know,” added Brian. “I’ve never quite understood it. Maybe they just felt it was an issue that needed to be dealt with generally for sport and wanted to use Cricket Scotland as a template. But I’ve no idea.”

In response to Brian’s claims, a sportscotland spokesperson said: “That people still refuse to accept the findings of Changing The Boundaries is a cause for concern. The denial of racism is a barrier to racial equity and is doing further damage to the sport that so many people in communities across the country love.

“The findings of the Changing The Boundaries report were accepted in full by the previous Cricket Scotland Board who apologised multiple times for the racism and discrimination problems within the sport. The governing body is now fully committed to implementing all recommendations contained in the report and we will continue to support them through the rebuilding process.

“We have full confidence in how the Changing The Boundaries review was carried out and will not be conducting any further reviews.”