The former Glamorgan head coach Grant Bradburn has received a suspended £500 fine, reprimand and caution for making comments with racist and sexist “connotations”.
Bradburn was charged by the independent cricket regulator and sacked by the Welsh county in December after allegations were made against the 58-year-old.
The charge, which Bradburn admitted, comprised three allegations, spelled out in the Cricket Discipline Commission’s full judgment. The first outlined that he asked players of Asian backgrounds what their “Cricinfo” age was, thus “implying that Asian players do not tell the truth about their age”.
The second said Bradburn “made comments that, in cricket selection decisions in Pakistan, they would pick their friends and cousins or pick their names out of a hat”. The former New Zealand international was Pakistan’s head coach in 2023 before joining Glamorgan in January 2024.
The third said that during fielding sessions Bradburn used the phrase “‘this isn’t Western Storm’ [the women’s cricket team] or similar when he considered that male players were demonstrating a lack of intensity in their fielding or not throwing hard enough”.
Regarding the Western Storm comment Tim O’Gorman, the CDC’s adjudicator, added: “The Cricket Regulator submitted that Mr Bradburn’s position as a head coach increased the seriousness of the offending in determining sanction because their view is that culture in any organisation starts from the top down and Mr Bradburn’s actions undermined the ECB’s and the game of cricket’s objective in being the most inclusive sport.
“The CR argued that this is illustrated by the fact that players picked up on Mr Bradburn’s words regarding Western Storm and started using those words themselves.”
O’Gorman found that Bradburn’s conduct “perpetuated stereotypes” and had racist and sexist “connotations”, but “there was no racist or discriminatory intent in the comments made”. He added that Bradburn “meant no offence, never denied making these statements, cooperated fully with the investigation, and unreservedly apologised if any offence was taken”.
In addition to his fine – which is suspended for a year – caution and reprimand, Bradburn is required to attend an educational course.
“Glamorgan Cricket acknowledges and welcomes this decision by the regulator,” said Glamorgan’s chief executive, Dan Cherry. “We have a zero-tolerance policy towards discriminatory behaviour so as soon as issues were pointed out to us we acted swiftly to protect those affected and show a strong line against poor behaviours that do not reflect the club’s values.
“We’re confident that the systems and processes we have in place to identify poor behaviour are working by virtue of the fact that those affected felt able to come forward on these points.”
Bradburn has been approached for comment.
