Photo Credit: Marylebone Cricket Club
MCC has published its annual Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Report, providing an annual progress update on the initiatives outlined within the Club’s 2022 EDI Plan issued 12 months ago.
The report sets out 2023 commitments to ensure that everyone is warmly welcomed by MCC and at Lord’s and treated with kindness and respect, whether they are a member of staff, MCC Member, player, spectator or any other visitor.
The Club’s EDI objectives cover six broad areas of activity; Insight, Education, Communication, Pathway, Environment and Accountability.
Some of the 2022 initiatives featured in this update include the launch of a refined membership application process in October. This has resulted in 24% female applicants in the first three months, an increase on the proportion currently on our waiting list to become Members.
Anti-racism and anti-discrimination training has been delivered across the Club, including the onboarding of Health and Wellbeing Ambassadors, who also embody MCC’s Freedom to Speak Up platform.
The MCC Heritage & Collections team has delivered exhibitions on the Evolution of Women’s Cricket and England’s Black Cricketers, along with a rehang of the Long Room and the installation of the Heyhoe Flint Gate as an everlasting legacy to this pioneer of the women’s game.
Lord’s welcomed the most diverse audience in The Hundred competition across all venues, including within its new alcohol-free and family-friendly stands. A second, larger multi-faith room was opened in the Pavilion along with the provision of a second, permanent Changing Places washroom. The Home of Cricket also hosted its first community Iftar event to celebrate Ramadan and supported Pride Month during the Vitality Blast series.
At a grassroots level, the MCC Foundation delivered 74 Hubs to 2,807 under-privileged participants, whilst MCC Community’s team featured 44% female participants in its after-school cricket programmes. They collaboratively delivered the Afghan Refugee Project, which subsequently won the Sports Industry Tessa Jowell Award.
The celebration of diversity at Lord’s has been at the heart of our plan to ensure that Lord’s is welcoming to all cricket supporters. With 91% of spectators surveyed in 2022 stating they were ‘very likely’ or ‘likely’ to return to Lord’s, good progress has been made. Focus remains however, on future challenges and initiatives, with future commitments set out within this update.
To read the EDI Update One Year On in full via a downloadable PDF document, please click here.
