AS Scottish cricket reels from the revelations made in a damning report highlighting institutional racism, a Glasgow group of campaigners have told of their work to push for change.

Running Out Racism (ROR) was founded by six men, each with a passion for cricket and a determination to see meaningful change in the sport.

Stating that racism is "rife" across Glasgow, the group said it was "instrumental" in this week's Sportscotland-commissioned report.

And they plan to keep pushing for change - no matter how long that takes.

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Ammar Ashraf has won awards for his work in engaging young people in cricket, helping grow the membership of East Renfrewshire Cricket Club.

He is also secretary and treasurer of Western District Junior Cricket Union and vice-chair of Govanhill-based Active Life Club, which carries out anti-racism work using sport. 

Raza Sadiq, who set up Active Life Club more than 25 years ago, is also among the ROR members calling for change. 

Having operated in all aspects of cricket, Ammar was moved to set up ROR after raising the issue of racism in the sport repeatedly over many years but getting nowhere.

Ammar said: "I picked six people who I knew had resilience - and that was vital because it is exhausting when you are trying to fight back and think of solutions.

"We had common ground in that we all had lived experience of dealing with racism in cricket."

Despite the difficulties, Ammar said he is motivated to make change so that his children do not face what he has.

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Alongside racism, Ammar said children from state schools are treated as second class citizens to those from private schools - a claim backed by the Plan4Sport report. 

The independent review, commissioned by Sportscotland and collated by equality and diversity group Plan4Sport, was scathing about both Cricket Scotland and Western District Cricket Union (WDCU).

Special measures are being placed on those organisations after institutional racism was found to be infecting both.

Some 50 of the testimonials given to the report writers came through ROR. 

Ammar, who was introduced to the sport by his "cricket-daft dad", said: "I do not want my children to experience what I have experienced. I want them to be treated as human beings.

"So many children are not getting cricketing careers, so many young people are not getting to step up through the game."

Ammar said a passion for making things better for young people is what keeps him going, given the time and commitment he has had to give to the campaign.

He added: "I have lost a lot of time dealing with a lot of these issues I should never have had to deal with.

"I was caring for my mum who was dying and I was pulled away from that to deal with issues that should never have existed.

"But we can regroup now and really change things, I believe that."

READ MORE: Scathing report finds racism rife in Scottish cricket

People who were instrumental in creating the issues raised in the report are still part of organisations running Scottish cricket. 

Ammar believes it will take up to 10 years for real change to take effect - and in the meantime, the group says regular progress reviews should be undertaken.

And they will be campaiging to ensure they are.

Two of the main players to speak out were Majid Haq and Qasim Sheikh, both of whom have asked for a public apology this week.

Majid Haq told this week how he lost his place in the World Cup squad in 2015 for tweeting the words: "It's tough being in a minority".

Despite winning 209 caps for Scotland between 2002 and 15, it was last he would play for his country - highlighting the danger in speaking out. 

Fellow founding member of ROR, Parvase Majeed, is taking legal action against WDCU over discrimination he said he experienced while umpiring.

The group speaks of instances where white cricketers have been let off with no reprimand or a mild reprimand while Asian players have been punished more severely.

In Parvase's case, he claims to have been assaulted but the white person who allegedly assaulted him was not disciplined over the incident while he was reprimanded. 

Parvase is clear that he believes cricket should be fully integrated and he is not a great supporter of all-Asian clubs. 

He said he has spent his life trying to integrate into society, being Scottish-born but from an immigrant background.

Parvase said: "Reading the report, my main takeaway was that the disciplinary committee has finally been found out but the recommendations should go further.

"It needs to be completely redesigned as it is not fit for purpose.

"So many people involved in this need to reflect on their impact on the sport and think about their positions."

Parvase says it will be 40 years on Saturday since he played his first cricket match, adding that when he and brother Sajid joined Renfrew Cricket Club they were the only two Asian players.

He said racism has been both explicit and subtle, giving several examples including of Asians players being told to speak English among themselves, despite other players talking in their own languages. 

Parvase added: "This has made me conscious of the colour of my skin and my ethnicity, which is a damning thing to say.

"I feel I have gone back to those days when I was growing up and we were targeted for the colour of our skin and less integrated.

"I have lost confidence and that is a real impact that has been created by cricket's culture."