England: Cricket chiefs pressed receptionist to have abortion (12 Mar 1998)

12 March 1998

Cricket chiefs pressed receptionist to have abortion

Ben Fenton

THE governing body of English cricket, champions of equality for women in the sport, was found guilty of sex discrimination yesterday when an industrial tribunal ruled its senior staff had pressed a receptionist into having an abortion.

Theresa Harrild, 32, said that Tim Lamb, the chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board, once described some women cricketers as "dykes", whose only value was to attract lottery grants to the sport. Miss Harrild said ECB officials paid her to abort the baby she had conceived by one of her colleagues. She said she was sacked after depression following the operation prevented her returning to work. Miss Harrild, who worked at Lord's, also claimed that she was offered #6,000 to say nothing about the case.

The ECB, which was not represented at the hearing in central London, denied the allegations in a statement made after Christopher Carstairs, the tribunal chairman, ruled that Miss Harrild had been the victim of sexual discrimination. He said: "The tribunal is unanimous in finding Miss Harrild's evidence was truthful."

Miss Harrild's lawyer said that it was extraordinary that the ECB had not been represented and asked that his client be "fully and substantially compensated".

Miss Harrild, a mother of one, said she had worked in a sexist environment at the ECB. Her abortion had been paid for with #400 handed to her in a brown envelope.

The accusations are particularly embarrassing for cricket's governing body because it has been championing the cause of women in the game after the MCC's vote last month to admit female members, but by an insufficient majority to overturn a 211-year-old ban.

At that time, Mr Lamb said: "What is important now is for people to realise that the ECB . . . is fully committed to the role of women in cricket and is doing everything possible to encourage them to participate from school age onwards."

According to Miss Harrild, she heard Mr Lamb say of some women cricketers: "We want our good dykes on board so that we can get more lottery money."

After the hearing, she was hugged by friends before reading a statement: "I am pleased the tribunal declared all that I said was true. The allegations made against me by the ECB were false. I believe that is why they chose not to appear today. I am saddened that any of this took place and I hope it will make for positive changes for my female former colleagues at the ECB and for all women involved in the profession of sport."

Miss Harrild gave evidence that she had been employed in June 1996 as a #14,000-a-year receptionist at the ECB, which is the governing body of cricket in England and Wales. She said she had been happy there until she had become aware of the "sexist atmosphere". Miss Harrild claimed that senior male staff "made crude and derogatory remarks about women". She said: "The England women cricketers were continually referred to as lesbians and dykes." Miss Harrild said that her boyfriend, who she refused to name, was an ECB official and that when he found out she was pregnant, he pressed her to have an abortion. They have since split up.

After she told her supervisor that she was pregnant the matter was reported to the board and on Jan 9, 1997, she was summoned to Mr Lamb's office, the tribunal was told. She said: "He said I was a bright girl but I could not be considered for promotion if I had children. I felt vulnerable. Lamb urged me to make up my mind about the pregnancy. I told him I did not have enough cash for it and it would take weeks on the NHS. He said he'd have a word with the chief finance man, Cliff Barker.

"In the following days, I was put under more pressure to make up my mind to have a termination. Eventually I decided to have a termination because of the pressure."

She said that Mr Barker, the deputy chief executive of the board, told her that her abortion would be paid for and on Jan 31 she was put up by the board at the Regent's Park Hotel where a fellow ECB employee gave her #400. The next day she had an abortion. After the operation, she became depressed and on two occasions she took drug overdoses, the tribunal was told. Miss Harrild claimed that she was seen by a psychologist, paid for by the ECB, who tried to persuade her to leave her job.

Then Mr Barker visited her at home in Blackheath, south-east London, to tell her that she was being dismissed and offered her #1,000 and additional unspecified sums to be "a good girl". She told the tribunal: "They dismissed me because they claimed there were problems with my appearance and my relationship with members of staff. I believe the real reason for my dismissal is their embarrassment by my pregnancy. I feel I have been cheated out of my job."

A spokesman for the ECB admitted that the ruling was damaging. He said: "We categorically deny that the ECB paid for an abortion and we deny that any of those statements attributed to staff of the ECB are true."

The tribunal will reconvene to rule on compensation.