GOVERNMENT LIFTS BAN ON CSA

Government lifts ban on CSA hosting major global tournaments

by Tristan Holme • Last updated on

CSA also worked closely with the ministry on the criteria used in the EPG's transformation data gathering. © Getty

The South African government has lifted its ban on Cricket South Africa (CSA) hosting major global tournaments after a committee deemed that the body met the relevant transformation criteria.

The Eminent Persons Group (EPG), an independent committee appointed by the government to assess the various sporting bodies' commitment to transformation, delivered its annual transformation report on Tuesday (May 9), when it confirmed that CSA had adhered to the guidelines over the past year.

"I would like to congratulate rugby, cricket and netball on their improved scores, you were clearly willing to walk the extra mile," sports minister Thembelani Nxesi said at the handover of the EPG's report in Pretoria. "Their right to bid for and host major sporting events, which was revoked before, is hereby immediately reinstated."

"But we would like to re-emphasise our expectations for sporting federations to take charge and provide leadership at school and club levels."

While the transformation focus in the past has often been a numbers game at the highest level, the EPG admitted that school sport remains the 'Achilles heel' of the sport system. The minister highlighted the fact that the current inequality in the school system is 'unsustainable', noting that the number of black children in township schools, who generally have no access to sporting facilities, is expected to grow in the coming years.

The report's recommendations also included a call to increase the number of black African coaches and umpires in cricket.

CSA was surprised last year when the EPG determined that it had not met the relevant transformation criteria. Along with three other sporting bodies, including rugby union, it found itself banned from hosting major tournaments by then-sports minister Fikile Mbalula.

Since then, CSA has worked hard to rectify the situation, imposing new transformation targets on the national team, which must average six players of colour, including two black Africans, in its playing XI over the course of the season. Those targets were met and even exceeded, during the 2016-17 season.

CSA also worked closely with the ministry on the criteria used in the EPG's transformation data gathering. Part of the reason that CSA felt last year's report was harsh was that many of the areas in which it was found short were the younger age group categories. In CSA's case, some of those categories did not exist, but the EPG, applying the same template as it did to sports such as swimming, simply failed CSA on those categories. CSA has subsequently worked out a tailored transformation scorecard for cricket in conjunction with the EPG and the ministry.

The ban has not ultimately had any direct effect. At the time that it was imposed, there was talk of a World Twenty20 being added to the cricket calendar in 2018, with South Africa being a potential host. But that event has fallen by the wayside, and there are no global events up for grabs until 2023.

© Cricbuzz

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