Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Action Plan 2025
Our responsibility and commitment to EDI
Sussex Cricket are committed to inspiring a passion for cricket across all our communities, creating inclusive and welcoming environments for people from all walks of life, regardless of their race, gender, sexual orientation, religion or belief, physical or neural ability.
We recognise our collective and individual responsibilities and accountabilities by committing to:
• Providing equality of opportunity, fairness and respect for all
• Creating safe, welcome, enjoyable and inclusive cricket settings
• Having a clear, simple process in place for reporting concerns
• Genuinely listening and responding to all reported concerns
• Developing and implementing an equality, diversity and inclusion strategy and action plan
• Regularly reporting on our progress
Our Vision
We want our communities to say “I feel part of Sussex Cricket.”
This vision is central to our Sussex Cricket County Plan and EDI strategy, underpinning our entire culture at Sussex Cricket.
We are committed to inspiring a passion for cricket across ALL our communities, creating inclusion and welcoming environments for people from all walks of life, regardless of their race, sexual orientation, religion or belief, physical or neural ability.
We strive to achieve our vision by genuinely listening and responding to what we hear.
We believe we have already made progress on and off the field, however we will continue to be better, challenging ourselves and each other to be accountable for our actions and behaviours.
What have we achieved in 2024?
Sussex Cricket are proud to have launched a number of initiatives in 2024 to further progress our vision to be inspire passion for cricket in all our communities and create inclusion and a welcoming environment from people from all walks of life. You can read more about our progress on EDI initiatives in 2024 in our EDI update [INSERT LINK TO WEBSITE].
These include:
• The creation of a Sensory, Inclusion & Quiet room - where spectators and their families can watch and enjoy cricket matches at the 1st Central County Ground in a space that meets their sensory needs.
• The introduction of hidden disability wristbands for spectators to wear to The 1st Central County Ground and is a discreet method of letting our stewards and staff know if they have a hidden disability which means they may require additional assistance or support when visiting our ground.
• Development of a Women & Girls Strategy - Through the work we do at the Sussex Cricket Foundation, we have been able to provide more cricket to women and girls, whether that is soft ball, hard ball, social, fun or competitive cricket, we are able to support any female coming into cricket with an option that suits them.
• LGBTQ+ Inclusion – to include Coffee & Cake at the Cricket events, holding our inaugural Pride match at the Metro Bank One Day Cup in August 2024 and holding LGBTQ+ awareness training for all players, stewards, staff, Trustees & Board members.
• Held our inaugural Iftar and Diwali events as part of our ongoing commitment to make the 1st Central County Ground a welcoming venue for all.
• We welcomed 3000 school children & teachers to our annual School’s Day during the Womens T20 between Southern Vipers and South-East Stars.
• Our first ever Disability Cricket weekend which saw our Visually Impaired and D40 Teams playing fixtures at the 1st Central County Ground.
• A record-breaking DIScoverABILITY DAY with 750 attendees and 150 volunteers, providing opportunities for people with SEND to enjoy the physical and social benefit of playing cricket.
• Installation of a new 4-lane indoor net facility at Stanley Deason Leisure Centre in East Brighton. A deprived area of the city, this provides a training facility for local clubs and the wider community to use to help imbed cricket into the area.
• Refurbishment of SCF FamZone to create a welcoming environment for children during match- days to access.
EDI Action Plan for 2025
We have 3 key priorities in which our action plan will be based:
1. Increasing opportunities for women and girls to be involved in cricket
2. Improving access to the talent pathway with a focus on race and socio economic background
3. Further developing our inclusive culture
1. Increasing opportunities for women and girls to be involved in cricket
We will achieve this by:
• Developing a fanbase for our Women’s team who will be playing all games (except one) at the 1st Central County Ground, Hove. The one game not being played at Hove will be played at the iconic Arundel Castle.
• Build connection between the women’s team and the local community - by taking players out to visit schools, clubs or to support community projects, as they will be role models and help inspire more Women & Girls to play, watch or get involved in the game.
• Run a Women’s Softball Cricket Festival at the 1st Central County Ground
• Support clubs with women and girls teams to develop facilities
• Provide training opportunities for female coaches
Impact measures:
1. Increase number of clubs with a girls section
2. Increase number of female cricket coaches
2. Improving access to the talent pathway with a focus on race and socio economic background
We will achieve this by:
• Develop the Oxfordshire partnership to enhance player numbers into the Sussex elite boys’ and girls’ pathways.
• Maintain and develop Girls Academy/Epp regional hubs at BACA and create pipeline
• Open, well run, and accessible Champions Fund to support all players within Sussex Cricket
• State schools only extra cricket provision
• Work alongside the PCA and ensure compliance with PCA and ECB EDI training.
• A commitment to the Nujum Sports Athlete Charter, designed to help us strengthen our voice and zero tolerance approach to any form of discrimination.
• Listening to Childrens Voice
• Boys and Girl’s Pathway programs to be representative of our Community
Impact measures:
• Equal representation of players from state and independent schools
• Staff Representation to represent our communities
3. Further developing our inclusive culture
We will achieve this by:
• Development and launch of a 3 year LGTBQ+ strategy and engagement with key stakeholders
• T20 fixture in support of Pride
• Run an event/taster sessions targeted at the LGBTQ+ community.
• Supporting religious events such as Diwali.
• Launch R;pple partnership - deployment of the R;pple browser extension across all staff computers, providing an extra layer of online protection for those experiencing a mental health crisis.
• Deliver EDI training across Sussex Cricket – to include LGBTQ+ awareness, Preventing Sexual Harassment.
• Establishing EDI data of our workforce for monitoring purposes to establish impact of EDI initiatives implemented.
How will we track progress & monitor impact?
Our plans will be regularly reviewed during 2025 through our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Action plan to ensure we progress with our vision and achievement against our targets.