ECB abandons Rooney Rule in coach recruitment — BBC Sport

In England and Wales, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has stopped regularly applying the Rooney Rule when hiring coaches for national men’s, women’s and disability teams. The organisation said its approach to recruitment has changed over the past eight years, BBC Sport reports.

What the rule provided for

In 2018, the ECB committed to interviewing at least one ethnic-minority candidate for every coaching role in national teams. The Rooney Rule was introduced in the US National Football League in 2003. It requires clubs to interview at least one ethnic-minority candidate for head coach vacancies or senior football operations positions.

Responding to a BBC Sport request about the recruitment process for 16 positions related to England’s men’s and women’s national teams since 2024, the ECB confirmed that the Rooney Rule was not applied in every case. Some of the appointments mentioned concerned selectors or directors of cricket rather than coaches.

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ECB’s position

The ECB explained that the recruitment process depends on the requirements of a specific position. In some cases, an open recruitment process is held, while in others the organisation specifically seeks specialists with the required skills, experience and leadership qualities. The organisation also noted that the pool of potential candidates in elite sport may be small.

The ECB said it considers developing a coaching and management talent pipeline, as well as increasing the number of ethnic-minority coaches and women coaches in the system, to be a more effective way of achieving long-term changes in representation. In 2025, the organisation funded more than 1,000 coaching bursaries, 22% of which were awarded to coaches from ethnically diverse communities. Since 2021, such specialists have accounted for 21% of participants in an advanced-level coaching course and 19% of participants in a specialist course.

The ECB confirmed that at least one ethnic-minority candidate took part in the selection process when Stephen Fleming was appointed head coach of England’s Test team in July. At the same time, when Charlotte Edwards was appointed head coach of England’s women’s team in April 2025, neither an open recruitment process nor the Rooney Rule was used.