EDI TOOLKIT - CREATING A CLUB FOR EVERYONE

The Isle of Wight cricket board and its member clubs are committed to making cricket on the Isle of Wight a sport that welcomes respects and treats everyone fairly. To attract people from different backgrounds and diverse communities, we must work together to evolve cricket’s culture, structures, and governance across the Isle of Wight. To be more inclusive and welcoming, we need to be intolerant of discrimination and abuse of any kind; systematically address barriers to entry and advancement; and build a more diverse workforce and governance structure that reflects the communities we work with in. 

Present Landscape

To deliver a diverse and inclusive game on the Isle of Wight we need to understand the make-up of the Island population. We can then benchmark where cricket is against that, so we can identify our future priorities. 

The Isle of Wight lies off the south coast of mainland England and covers an area of 146.8 sq. miles and has a population of 141, 984(March 2019). The make up the population is 51% females and 49% males. Over 1 in 4 (27.3%) is age between 65 to 84 years old. This section of the population is predicted to grow in the next 10 years by 20%, over 85-year-olds to grow by 24% in 10 years’ time. Under 15-year-olds makes up 14.7% of the present population, against a national average of 18%. 

The Isle of Wight, like other coastal areas, is popular as a retirement destination. There is a net outflow of age 15 to 29 year olds as young people leave for higher education and others for employment and career opportunities, and a net inflow at age 30 and above as people return to raise their families or older people retire here.

Most Isle of Wight residents (94.8%) were born in the UK (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) and most of those who came from outside the UK have been resident in the country for ten years or more (3.2%). Just 0.4% of the resident population that were not born in the UK, had been resident for less than two years. Source: ONS, 2011 Census

The overwhelming majority of the Isle of Wight in 2011 identified themselves as White-British (94.8%) however this has reduced by two percentage points from the 2001 Census (96.8%). There are signs of a diversifying population on the Isle of Wight, with the non-white ethnic population more than doubling from 1.3% in 2001 to 2.7% in 2011 (compared with an increase from 8.7% to 14.1% for England as a whole). (Source: Isle of Wight Council, Public Health Team - Census Atlas 2552-Census-Atlas-2011-Section-2-Population-religion-and-ethnicity.pdf (iow.gov.uk)

Isle of Wight Cricket in 2021/22

Isle of Wight Cricket Board

The Board is made up of 10 individuals; there are 3 women on the board, one who is Chair of the Board. 

Clubs–There are 19 affiliated clubs with 8 that play league cricket. The rest of the clubs play friendly/touring cricket. We have 9 clubs with junior sections.

Senior League Cricket

There are 16 teams playing league cricket. Ten teams play in the Island league. The other 6, including 1 ladies team travel across the water. Five of them play in the Hampshire League and one in the Southern Premier League.

Junior Cricket

In 2021 there was 361 junior members of clubs, up 10% from 2020. Of the 361 members there was 88 girls playing in clubs (24% of the total junior membership), which was up 33% on 2021. 

National Programmes (2021)

All Stars (5-8 year olds) – 185 Club Registrations 

Dynamos (8-12 year olds) – 103 Club Registrations

County Teams

In 2022 we will run 12 County teams, including 2 girls’teams. We run teams from U10 through to a 1st XI and a Super 9s team for disabled players, and Over 50s side. 

School Cricket

We run a primary and secondary school programme and have a very active school cricket association with competitions run from Year 4 through to Year 10 and girls’ competitions run at U11, U13 and U15 levels. 

Our EDI Action Plan

The plan focuses on building on the good work happening and looking at areas for improvement and development, taking advantage of the opportunities to engage a more diverse cricket community to grow the game on the Isle of Wight. The plan is built around three objectives, which will be reviewed and reported back to the ECB and Island Cricket on an annual basis. 

OUR VISION: 

To develop an environment for people to say ‘Cricket is For Me’

OUR MISSION: 

To transform cricket on the Isle of Wight into a sport where everyone feels they are welcomed, respected, and are treated fairly

OUR OBJECTIVES

· Provide Wider Access To The Game - Island cricket will increase opportunities to make access to the game easier for underrepresented groups, creating a welcoming environment for everyone. 

· Create Inclusive Environments-Create venues where everyone feels they are welcome, safe and able to engage with the game.

· Create a diverse  Cricketing Community- To inspire and involve a diverse cricket community who say ‘Cricket is for Me’

Provide Wider Access To The Game - Island   cricket will increase opportunities to make access to the game easier for   underrepresented groups

ACTIONS: 

· Introduce   new inclusive projects to attract   new members and volunteers

· Review   present activities to make   sure they are inclusive to all communities

· Run forums with communities to understand how cricket can become more   inclusive

· Host   quarterly community events to attract   and engage a wider diverse community

· Develop a membership   baseline to gauge action plan effectiveness 

MEASURES:

· Start monitoring   club Senior Membership and  continue to   monitor Junior membership – Number, Gender, School and Ethnicity

· Monitor   project participation numbers across agreed areas.  

· Have 3   forum groups active by end of 2022

· Run 1 new   project for disabled individuals by end of 2022

Objective: Create Inclusive Environments  – Create venues where everyone feels they are welcome, safe, and able to   engage with the game.

ACTIONS: 

· Work with   our clubs to create a welcoming culture that is inclusive at all levels

· Deliver appropriate training to directors, staff and club   volunteers in creating welcoming environment 

· Introduce a process for reporting all kinds of discrimination 

MEASURES:

· Reporting Process Policy in Place – Done

· Number of directors, staff and volunteers undertaking EDI training each year

· Deliver 2 workshops to clubs on creating welcoming environments by end of Dec 2022

OBJECTIVE: Diverse Representation - To   inspire and involve a diverse cricket community who say ‘Cricket is for Me’

ACTIONS: 

· Introduce a Fair Recruitment Policy

· Deliver training to directors and staff on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

· Develop a diverse and accountable leadership and staff   team to successfully deliver on our plans

· Improve diversity in leadership positions across Island cricket (Board and Clubs) to   ensure our leadership represents the communities it serves

MEASURES:

· All Board Directors   & Staff to complete the following training by 31st May 2022

· All   Directors trained in Fairer Recruitment 

· At least one   female representative on each club committee by May 2023

The plan will be reviewed annually and updated to reflect the work undertaken and the next steps of making cricket on the Island and a ‘Game for Me’