England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) Chairman Richard Gould has written to his counterpart at the International Cricket Council (ICC) urging the sport’s global governing body to consider taking action against the Afghanistan Cricket Board over the Taliban government’s treatment of women.
Earlier this week, a group of more than 160 politicians, including Nigel Farage, Jeremy Corbyn and Lord Kinnock, signed a letter encouraging England to boycott next month’s Champions Cup match against Afghanistan and take a stand against the Taliban regime’s assault on women’s rights.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer called on the ICC to “introduce its own rules”, with Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy saying the match “must go ahead” so as not to penalize the England team, but suggested British senior figures should ignore the matter. . It happened.
“What is happening in Afghanistan is the worst violation of women’s rights anywhere on earth,” Gold wrote.
“The ECB has maintained its position that no bilateral cricket matches against Afghanistan will be scheduled. We had hoped, when we expressed this concern for two years, that this would advance the debate into further action, but unfortunately, this has not happened.
“While many local stakeholders continue to call for a boycott of our Champions Cup match, a coordinated approach led by the ICC will be significantly more impactful than unilateral actions taken by individual members.
“We want to work with you and other members to find a solution that provides hope that the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan can be restored.”
The Afghanistan women’s cricket team fled the country in August 2021 and most of them are currently residing in Australia
Gould also urged the ICC to urgently consider “putting an immediate condition on the membership status of the Afghanistan Cricket Board to introduce women’s cricket by a certain deadline” and securing a “significant proportion” of Asian Cricket Bank funding until the women’s game is reinstated.
Female participation in the sport has been effectively banned since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, a move that puts the AFC in direct breach of the rules of cricket’s governing body.
The women’s cricket team fled the country, seeking refuge in Pakistan before being granted emergency visas to Australia, where most of them currently reside.
Under Taliban rule, payments to the women’s side were cut off and the team received no communication from cricket chiefs despite multiple attempts to make contact.
Afghan female athletes had their homes raided by the Taliban and some of them were forced to burn their uniforms.
Gould also called on the ICC to support the exiled women’s team “through funding and advocacy to allow them to compete as an Afghan refugee team”, a model the IOC has adopted for the Paris 2024 Games.
In 2021, the ICC established a working group for Afghanistan to help influence change and monitor the situation in the country.
However, the entire board was male, and after a meeting in 2023, cricket chiefs significantly hiked Afghanistan’s budget while providing no update on the women’s team.
Another condition set out by Gould in his letter is: “Reform of the existing Afghanistan Working Group to monitor and oversee this work, by providing a regular and objective assessment of the progress of the Afghanistan Cricket Board.”
“This group can seek expert opinions on this topic, to improve leaders’ skills and enable them to make informed and supported decisions.
“If we don’t take the actions we can – while recognizing that much is not within our power – we will all be complicit and failing in the excellence that comes with holding a global leadership position in our sport.”
https://e0.365dm.com/25/01/1600×900/skysports-england-afghanistan_6793203.jpg?20250110125325