Former Yorkshire deputy chair fined for discriminatory jokes at cricket dinner

The former deputy chair of Yorkshire CCC has been fined £1000 and handed a reprimand by the Cricket Discipline Panel, after two of his jokes at an after-dinner speech in Scarborough were found to have breached the ECB's anti-discrimination regulations.

Phillip Hodson, who also served as MCC President in 2011, will also be required to attend an equality and diversity training course as part of his sanction, after accepting the charges levelled by the Cricket Regulator.

Hodson's comments were made at a speech to Scarborough Cricket Club in July 2025. In the first of his jokes, he made offensive comments against the gay community and, in the second, he mocked people living with a stammer.

In 2023, Yorkshire was fined £400,000 and handed a 48-point deduction in that year's County Championship after being found guilty of racism and discrimination over a 17-year period. This included a £135,000 fine for "the systemic use of racist or discriminatory language" between 2004 and 2021.

That same year, English cricket as a whole was castigated by the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC), which found that discrimination was widespread at all levels of the game. Though a subsequent independent report, released in November 2023, found that "genuine progress" had been made on inclusion and diversity within the sport, further work was called for in several areas, including at senior leadership level.

"The conduct admitted to by the Respondent has no place in modern society and no place in the cricket environment," Richard Whittam KC, the sole arbitrator, said. "All who participate in cricket in any way, including attending cricket dinners, must be able to do so in an inclusive environment."

Managing Director of the Cricket Regulator, Chris Haward, said: "The ICEC report was clear that as with all areas of culture, the tone is set from the top down, and the Cricket Regulator will act irrespective of the individual's position within the game.

"We are grateful to the witnesses who came forward and reported the matter. It is incumbent upon all within the game to report matters of discrimination so that we can call out and hold to account those who overstep the boundary."