John Blain threatens legal action against Cricket Scotland over racism allegation row
Former Yorkshire and Scotland player John Blain has threatened to sue Cricket Scotland for a “craven, disingenuous and despicable attempt” to “rewrite history”.
The row escalated last week when Blain revealed he had been told in January there would be no further action against him regarding allegations made by two former Scotland players, Majid Haq and Qasim Sheikh.
He released a letter from CS interim chief executive, Peter Fitzboyden, saying the allegations had “not been founded” and there was “no case to answer.” He accused the board of sitting on the findings for five months.
But a few days later a letter from CS sent to one of the complainants and released by Running Out Racism, an anti-race advisory group that has been advising the complainants, said it was not in its power to “exonerate” Blain.
Blain has now accused the board of rowing back on clearing him. “Not only did Pete Fitzboydon, the CEO of Cricket Scotland, write to me in January to say that all of the claims against me were unfounded, that I had no case to answer, and my case was closed, but that position was clearly confirmed by his successor Trudy Lindblade in a phone call with me in February,” said Blain.
“She reiterated on the call that the claims against me were unfounded and the case against me was closed. I am sure that, if asked, she will publicly confirm that to be the case.
“This latest Cricket Scotland letter is a desperate attempt to re-invent history and to row back from an unequivocal exoneration. Unbelievably, Cricket Scotland’s preposterous position now appears to be that they in fact lied to me out of consideration for my welfare!
“That simply does not stand scrutiny when you consider that they removed me publicly from the Hall of Fame, my name was publicly dragged through the mud for years with no intervention or help from them, and they prevaricated for five months after writing the letter which exonerated me.
“Their position is fatally undermined by the assurances I have received from not one but two chief executives. I will now confer with my lawyers and take all steps necessary to protect my reputation in light of this extraordinary and unsustainable about-turn.”
CS released a new statement on Tuesday about the conclusion of its investigation and confirmed there will be no disciplinary action against Blain due to “insufficient evidence, a lack of an applicable rule at the time of the complaint, and/or a lack of jurisdictional remit or authority to take formal action”.
