I never thought I would feel sorry for Yorkshire, especially over an issue like racial-slurring, but they have managed to let themselves be painted (and to assist in the process themselves) into a corner from which I can see no escape.
Sponsors have every right to do what they want, but some of this is also virtue-signalling. They are getting their two-pennyworth out of withdrawing their support aren't they? Are there no glass ceilings out there for their black employees? Are they sure all their own job-interview processes carry no racial taint? They want to look whiter than white and maybe they are, without realising the irony of that statement. Exactly how many non-white faces have reached the boardrooms of these organisations?
Of course heads have to roll. Of course Yorkshire has to step up change, but anyone who thinks racism and sexism aren't endemic in sport is living exactly where Greta Thunberg tells us doesn't exist - Planet B. Much as I've spent my whole life glorying in Yorkshire failure, we can't beat the cricket club to death and think we've contributed to sport, its image or any kind of harmony.
Sponsors have every right to do what they want, but some of this is also virtue-signalling. They are getting their two-pennyworth out of withdrawing their support aren't they? Are there no glass ceilings out there for their black employees? Are they sure all their own job-interview processes carry no racial taint? They want to look whiter than white and maybe they are, without realising the irony of that statement. Exactly how many non-white faces have reached the boardrooms of these organisations?
Of course heads have to roll. Of course Yorkshire has to step up change, but anyone who thinks racism and sexism aren't endemic in sport is living exactly where Greta Thunberg tells us doesn't exist - Planet B. Much as I've spent my whole life glorying in Yorkshire failure, we can't beat the cricket club to death and think we've contributed to sport, its image or any kind of harmony.