England and Wales Cricket Board: A Winning Model for Transparency and Accountability in Sport? – Michael Pedersen

August 20, 2013

Unlike most other national and international sport governing bodies, England and Wales Cricket Board has taken a great leap forward in providing high levels of transparency and accountability. By making a broad range of governance measures publicly available on its website, the sport governing body is not only building high levels of trust with key stakeholders of cricket. It is also building the foundation for future performance and participation and revenue growth.

This fifth contribution of mine for iSportconnect’s expert column on sport governance offers perspectives on noteworthy transparency and accountability measures of England and Wales Cricket Board. It also offers some challenging questions about transparency and accountability for sport leaders to consider, as they start modernizing their governance standards for the future.

My next contribution will be published in the middle of September. It is going to offer perspectives on collective action as a means of addressing governance challenges related to hosting big sporting events. The contribution will focus on the case of the Brazilian project ‘Clean Games Inside and Outside of the Stadium’. Under the leadership of Ethos Institute, the project is centered on the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games.

Many sport governing bodies fail to get full credit for their governance standards

Since they were established in the early days of amateur sport, many national and international sport governing bodies have traditionally considered transparency and accountability as a responsibility to their members only. Accordingly, even today, the transparency and accountability measures available on public websites of many sport governing bodies are limited to statutes and lists of board members.

Transparently accounting for only a fraction of governance measures in place comprises a missed opportunity to sport governing bodies, especially at a time that is characterized by extraordinary technological possibilities and ever growing stakeholder expectations to all societal players. Not only do many sport governing bodies miss out on getting full stakeholder credit for all governance measures in place. They also miss out on building high levels of trust in and around their sports through transparent and accountable engagement with all their key stakeholders.

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New standards for transparency and accountability in sport governance as defined by England and Wales Cricket Board

England and Wales Cricket Board transparently accounts for a large number of internal, athletic, event and ‘sport in society’ governance measures on its website. The information, which includes measures of prevention, detection and sanctioning of wrongdoings, is easily accessible on a series of pages under the heading ‘About ECB’.

Particularly noteworthy internal governance measures transparently accounted for on England and Wales Cricket Board’s website include comprehensive bios of board members and information about how independent board members are appointed. Such measures also include a four-year strategic plan with specific and measurable targets as well as annual reports for the last five years with detailed information about identified risks and financial and organizational results. Furthermore, it is particularly noteworthy too that the sport governing body transparently accounts for the nature of the relationship with all its specific sponsors and media broadcasters.

Beyond the rules of the game for cricket, particularly noteworthy athletic governance measures transparently accounted for on the sport governing body’s website include a code of conduct for players and player support personnel. Such measures also include policies related to equality, social inclusion, anti-racism, anti-corruption, players’ agents, doping and child protection. Policies and information available related to anti-corruption and doping are especially detailed. Furthermore, it is particularly noteworthy too that England and Wales Cricket Board transparently accounts for detection and sanctioning measures in place – such as a new seven-strong team of anti-corruption officials, which monitors matches in professional competitions and reinforces a wider program of player education. That is also the case for detailed information about decisions of the sport governing body’s disciplinary panel to impose life bans on specific professional cricket players for breaches of its anti-corruption policy. Last not least, it is particularly noteworthy too that detection measures available include a secure e-mail and hotline, which make it possible for all stakeholders to report any suspicion of unfair play in confidence.

As far as event governance measures transparently accounted for on England and Wales Cricket Board’s website are concerned, it is particularly noteworthy that the sport governing body makes available detailed rules that outline rights and responsibilities for hosts of sporting events. Particularly noteworthy ‘sport in society’ governance measures available include detailed information regarding England and Wales Cricket Board’s foundation and other charity projects that the sport governing body manages or supports, i.e. a detailed account for where the funding comes from and how it is spent.

The only way to build the trust of your key stakeholders is by earning it

Inspired by the example of England and Wales Cricket Board, critical questions for sport leaders to ask themselves are: who trusts you, and who stands up for you in a time of crisis? Trust is not about how you perceive yourself, but rather how key stakeholders of your game perceive your organization, your sport, your events, your ‘sport in society’ projects and not least you personally. To earn the trust of your key stakeholders, everyone in your organization, and you in particular, must behave with integrity – transparently and consistently.

Other critical questions include:

  What do key stakeholders of your game expect you to transparently account for on your website as far as internal, athletic, event and ‘sport in society’ governance standards are concerned?

 Which governance measures do you have in place that you currently do not get full credit for, because you are not transparently accounting for them on our website?

 Which are the pros and cons in making your strategy available on your website?

 How to best account for measures in place to detect and sanction wrongdoings, inside and outside of the stadium?

 Which are the pros and cons in making minutes of board meetings available on your website?

 How to best account for conflicts of interest and how they are handled, especially in the boardroom?

 How could you best offer all your key stakeholders a credible channel to raise any concerns in confidence about how people in your sport conduct their business, inside and outside of the stadium? – And how could you best account for concerns raised and how they are being dealt with, transparently and consistently?

Links to my previous contributions for iSportconnect’s expert column on sport governance:

Badminton World Federation: A Winning Model for Democratizing Sport in the 21st Century?

Governance in Netball New Zealand: A Winning Model for Professionalizing the Boardroom and for Handling Conflicts of Interest?

The Business Case for Good Governance in Sport

Sport Governance – What Are We Actually Talking About?


Michael Pedersen, Founder of M INC., is an internationally recognized expert and leader in good governance, transparency, ethics and integrity.

Michael is the former Head of the World Economic Forum’s Partnering Against Corruption Initiative, an international good governance partnership with over 175 multinational companies and their CEOs. He holds three MSc degrees; an MSc in Global Leadership; an MSc in Responsibility and Business Practice; and an MSc in International Relations.

Michael is passionate about sport. Sport has and continues to play an important role in his life. He is of Danish origin and currently lives in Lima, Peru and in Barcelona, Spain.

He also publishes a leadership series on good governance in sport that is available for free download at: http://minc.ch/sport-practice.html

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