Yorkshire said they were forced to cancel a crucial meeting on Wednesday because club members should only have been notified of it by post.
The extraordinary general meeting, which had been due to start at 6pm on Wednesday evening, had been seen as a key step in the county’s governance overhaul in the wake of the Azeem Rafiq racism crisis.
It was also expected that a decision by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) on whether to restore international cricket to Headingley this summer would be taken based on the outcome of the EGM, but it was cancelled at short notice on Wednesday afternoon, with Yorkshire’s initial statement saying it had not been “properly called”.
They provided further details for the cancellation on Wednesday evening, stating it was due to a “legacy issue” – that the county’s former leadership had not registered amended club rules with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
“Owing to this failure to register the changes, the club now understands that the notice of the 2021 meeting and this EGM should properly have been given to members by post only, rather than by post and electronic means including the YCCC website (as members had approved by passing the resolution at the 2020 meeting),” a club statement read.
“Accordingly the notices of the meetings at the time they were called – before the registration of the changes with the FCA – were invalid until the FCA registration was completed.
“Following discovery of this oversight, YCCC has now rectified the position: the rule changes in 2020 and 2021 have been filed with the FCA as required, and they are available for public inspection. Going forward the club will be regularising the situation.”
The Yorkshire statement added: “Yorkshire County Cricket Club is determined to proceed with essential changes to its governance which are important for the future of the club.”
The ECB’s deputy chair, Martin Darlow, was asked about the importance of the EGM in the restoration of international cricket at Headingley when he attended a hearing called into cricket’s racism crisis by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee last week.
“Once we’re through (the EGM), I anticipate the (ECB) board will be making a decision and considering their options soon after that,” Darlow told MPs.
The ECB has not commented so far on the cancellation of the meeting.
Yorkshire chair Lord Kamlesh Patel, who has overseen a dramatic period of change at the county since his appointment in November last year, has previously warned the club would face “two major catastrophes” if international cricket did not return.
He told Sky Sports News last month: “One (catastrophe) is hundreds of thousands of fans, boys and girls, Yorkshire people, will suffer tremendously because we miss out and secondly there would be a major financial crisis.
“Many of the existing sponsors hopefully will return to us in the coming weeks – a lot of new sponsors have come and spoken to us, but a lot of it rests on the idea that we get international games back.”
