Lord’s to keep hosting Eton vs Harrow despite report’s recommendation to ditch ‘elitist’ match
Lord’s will continue to host its “historic fixtures” between Eton and Harrow and Oxford and Cambridge despite the recommendations of a scathing independent report which concluded there is “widespread discrimination” in English cricket.
Amongst the findings released on Tuesday, the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) said that the annual matches should not be held at the home of cricket after 2023 to combat “elitism and class-based discrimination“.
However, i understands that the matches will go ahead for the next five years as planned, after which there will be another review.
“Much of this [classism] is, we believe, structural and institutional in nature, driven partly by the lack of access to cricket in state schools and the way in which the talent pathway is structurally bound up with private schools,” the report read.
“These two events should be replaced by national finals’ days for state school U15 competitions for boys and girls and a national finals’ day for competitions for men’s and women’s university teams.”
Lord’s only hosts a limited number of playing days a year to protect the surface, which means the continuation of the matches in question excludes more accessible, alternative events.
The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), which owns Lord’s, is responsible for the laws of the game, and wields considerable influence over the sport as a whole, initially removed the matches from its calendar in 2022 amid growing debate about classism and elitism.
Last year’s fixture between the two public schools featured the chant, “we’ve got more Prime Ministers than you.”
The decision to play the fixtures elsewhere was met with outrage, though, and hundreds within the club signed a petition, led by member Mike Hall, to trigger a Special General Meeting (SGM). The meeting was not held as a compromise was agreed the matches could take for at least another five years.
Yet that move has come under renewed scrutiny in light of ICEC’s report, which highlighted the links between English sport and “the racial ideology of imperialism” and questioned the “right” of students from Eton and Harrow to play at the famous ground.
It pointed out that “private school educated players are disproportionately represented, to a significant extent, in England’s national teams, both men and women, compared with the general population.” In 2021, 58 per cent of male England players were privately educated, compared with seven per cent of the wider public.
The report added that the debate over the Oxbridge and Eton-Harrow matches had “brought some of the wider issues at play to light”.
The ECB were also told that participation in youth cricket should be made free of costs charged by counties to increase social diversity and that youth players should not be nominated by schools or clubs but accepted via open trials.
