Cricket Ireland has launched its Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Strategy, a key component to its long-term success. The strategy establishes a proactive approach to broadening participation, providing fair access, and creating equal opportunities, ensuring cricket is a welcoming environment for everyone.
Focus areas of the Strategy include:
- Promoting gender equality in relation to women’s and girls’ cricket
- Building Diversity and Inclusion awareness and understanding at all levels across the sport
- Improving inclusive practices through processes and policies.
The strategy has been developed with input from across the cricketing community, drawing on a game-wide consultation and the support of the national EDI Working Group, which includes representatives from every Provincial Union.
Key Actions from the EDI Strategy in the short-to-medium term include:
- Education, Training, and Communication:
- E-Learning Course: Set to launch in November 2024, this course will be available to all clubs, aiming to engage a significant number of club officials and adult members by February 2025.
- Anti-Discrimination Campaign: This campaign will be rolled out at all levels, with dedicated resources and collateral to promote awareness and action across clubs in advance of 2025 cricket season.
- Inclusive and Diverse Cricket Communities:
- Inclusive Practice Toolkit (IPT): This toolkit, offering practical guidance and best practices for promoting inclusion at all levels of the game, will be piloted in clubs by early 2025.
- Policy, Practice, Reporting, and Accountability:
- Anti-Discrimination Practicing Guide: We are creating a guide that will strengthen the tools, guidelines, and support available to disciplinary committees to ensure processes are fair, transparent, and consistent across all levels of cricket.
- Reporting progress: Cricket Ireland will regularly share updates on progress, with annual ‘Activation Workshops’ in each region to gather insights and feedback from members.
Speaking about the launch, Brian MacNeice, Chair of Cricket Ireland, said:
Cricket is a sport for all. Our ambition is to make sure we create an environment for cricket in Ireland that embraces and celebrates our diversity. This strategy sets out the approach we will take to create a more equitable and welcoming sport. EDI has become a key priority for me as Chair of Cricket Ireland, as we have come to recognise the need to create positive cricketing experiences for everyone, from grassroots to elite levels, and have set clear ambitions and targets to ensure progress.
We are incredibly grateful to everyone involved in this process – particularly the club members across the island of Ireland who shared their experiences—and our EDI Working Group, who dedicated their time and expertise. Our goal is for cricket to thrive, and for everyone to enjoy participating in all aspects of the sport.
Over the next several months, we will be delivering key actions outlined in the strategy, which will be essential in shaping a more inclusive future for cricket in Ireland. These initiatives are just the beginning of a long-term effort to make cricket a welcoming, accessible sport for all.
Elaine Nolan, Director of Growth and Strategy at Cricket Ireland, who has led the EDI Working Group, added:
At Cricket Ireland, we recognise that the strength of our sport comes from the diversity of our players, coaches, officials, volunteers, fans, and communities.
This EDI strategy is not just about policy—it’s about creating meaningful change in how we engage with people from all walks of life, ensuring that cricket is a sport where everyone feels welcome, valued, and can thrive.
For more information and to read the EDI Strategy or a summary document please visit the EDI Strategy page here.
Cricket EDI Working Group Members
- Elaine Nolan, Director of Growth and Strategy, CI
- Isreal Ibeanu, Safeguarding Diversity and Inclusion Officer
- Meena Baskarasubramanian, Cricket Leinster
- Judith Neuman Jones, Cricket Leinster
- Ciara Hanley, North West Cricket Union
- Sukhi Byrne, Munster Cricket
- Dr. Darshan Kumar, Northern Cricket Union
- John F. Martin, Connacht Cricket Union