PRESS RELEASE – 15 SEPTEMBER 2023 – CRICKET SCOTLAND IMPOSE LIFETIME BAN ON MAN WHO RACIALLY ABUSED FORMER SCOTLAND CRICKETER MAJID HAQ
Press Release – 15th September 2023
CRICKET SCOTLAND IMPOSE UNPRECEDENTED LIFETIME BAN ON MAN WHO RACIALLY ABUSED FORMER SCOTLAND CRICKETER MAJID HAQ (see below the attached disciplinary decision by Cricket Scotland)
Statement by Solicitor Aamer Anwar on behalf his client Majid Haq.
Majid welcomes the decision of Cricket Scotland to give Ronnie McGregor a lifetime ban. Majid said that whilst McGregor has failed to show any remorse, despite having pled guilty to the criminal charge, he hopes such robust action by Cricket Scotland sends out a strong signal to anyone who wishes to engage in such vile and racist conduct.
Majid believes it is time that the clubs took a zero-tolerance approach to racism & any other forms of discrimination by those who wish to keep Cricket in the dark ages.
The background
The Incident – https://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/news/23777717.majid-haq-man-admits-racially-abusing-ex-scotland-cricketer/
(http://www.greenockcricketclub.com/home/2022-awards-evening-report.php)
Ronnie McGregor who was a scorer at the Greenock Cricket Club, called former Scotland international cricketer Majid Haq a ‘cheating P**i’ – then told him to his face it was a statement of ‘fact’, Greenock Sheriff Court heard the details on the 11th September 2023, McGregor pled guilty to the charge of racial abuse and will be sentenced at in October.
Majid was working as an umpire and gave the Greenock professional Rahul Dalal out LBW at a crucial moment in the match. The Greenock scorer Ronnie McGregor then shouted out ‘cheating P**i’ which was heard by several people watching, including most of the Greenock team (some of whom are Asian). He was spoken to by a few people who tried to calm him down, telling him to control his language.
Majid never heard McGregor, but at the rain break when he was told by someone what had been said. he then asked a few people who confirmed what was said and went to ask him.
McGregor then said to Majid in a cocky manner that he had said a ‘factual term’. Majid asked him what that was. McGregor went on to repeat in front of a few people the words ‘cheating P**i’ to Majid’s horror leaving him upset and shaken.
Majid then called over his umpiring colleague & told him what was said. The scorer Ronnie McGregor then got up as the situation escalated and spoke to the Greenock captain Greg McDougall, who said that it was best he left the ground which he eventually left off his own accord.
Majid then contacted myself and I advised him to contact Police Scotland who came almost immediately and took statements from several witnesses, following which McGregor was arrested and charged with a racially aggravated breach of the peace. McGregor pled guilty at Greenock Sheriff Court and is due to be sentenced in October.
On the 24th August 2023, the Conduct in Sport Panel adjudicated that the complaint brought by the Conduct in Sport manager on behalf of Cricket Scotland was established and upheld. The panel held that Mr Ronnie McGregor, breached the Cricket Scotland, Code of Conduct as a result of his behaviour on 12th August 2023 at the WDCU Premiership One match between Greenock 1 and Stenhousemuir 1.
We understand the disciplinary panel invited the Conduct in Sport Manager to address it on the appropriate sanction in this case. The behaviour of McGregor was seeN as ‘overtly racist, deliberate, without provocation and having a detrimental effect on Majid Haq.’
McGregor had shown no remorse and refused to engage in the disciplinary process. A lifetime ban from attending any match played under the auspices of Cricket Scotland was the most appropriate sanction.
Mr Ronnie McGregor was acting in the capacity of Greenock 1 scorer at the match while sitting amongst spectators and other officials when he repeatedly racially abused Mr Majid Haq who was umpiring at the match.
Aamer Anwar said that such overt racism thankfully is not the norm, but the poison of institutional racism permeates throughout Cricket Scotland, of which some members remain in open denial of the existence of racism.
Over the course of the last year my clients Majid Haq and Qasim Sheikh have shamefully been subjected to continued abuse and gas lighting by those within cricketing in Scotland. There is a limit to how much more they are expected to endure, time is of the essence, and it is for Cricket Scotland to prove its genuine commitment to change.
Majid is grateful to the panel, and to those who gave statements to the police, but it still saddens him that despite what had happened to him, as a victim it was left to him to call the police.”
CRICKET SCOTLAND STATEMENT
CONDUCT IN SPORT PANEL VERDICT: RONALD MCGREGOR
Cricket Scotland today can confirm the result of, and sanctions emanating from, the independent disciplinary process against Ronald McGregor.
A hearing of the Conduct In Sport Panel on August 24, 2023, found the complaint brought by Cricket Scotland against Mr McGregor to be established and upheld. The panel held that Mr McGregor breached Article 2.13 (i), (ii) & (iii) of the Cricket Scotland Code of Conduct, by his behaviour against Mr Majid Haq, an umpire officiating in the WDCU Premiership One match between Greenock and Stenhousemuir, on August 12, 2023.
Consideration of sanctions was continued until September 11, to allow this judgment to be presented to Mr McGregor, and allow him an opportunity to attend, or make any representations on his own behalf, at the sanction hearing. Mr McGregor did not respond or attend the sanction hearing, which continued in his absence.
In determining sanctions, the panel found no mitigatory features in the incident, noted that Mr McGregor refused to engage in the disciplinary process, and in his only email response to Cricket Scotland exhibited no remorse or culpability.
The panel considered Mr McGregor’s behaviour to be at the highest end of conduct covered by Article 2.13. In these circumstances, reference is made to Cricket Scotland Conduct in Sport Panel Rules, and in terms of rule 7.3.7.
The panel sanctioned Mr McGregor by imposing a lifetime ban from attending any matches under the auspices of Cricket Scotland, in terms of rule 7.3.7. Mr McGregor has seven days in which to appeal this sanction, dating from Wednesday September 13, 2023.
Cricket Scotland Chief Executive, Pete Fitzboydon, said:
“Racism, and those who demonstrate discriminatory behaviour, have no place in our sport. Cricket can be one of the greatest forces for bringing communities together, and the vast majority is played without incident. Unfortunately, a small minority of people continue to demonstrate their racist and bigoted views in our game. Any racist incident is one too many.
“Cricket Scotland’s focus remains on preventing incidents from occurring by helping the sport to become anti-racist; however, appropriate sanctions for any perpetrators are extremely important. While the Conduct in Sport Panel is rightly independent from Cricket Scotland, this lifetime ban reassures me that they regard racism with the same level of condemnation that the governing body does.”
