Yorkshire CCC

The vast majority on here and most I know are appalled that the club lives in the dark ages. Yet we are going to be punished?
Then when YCCC RIP starts trending, which I feel is inevitable, it will turn full circle and Rafiq could become a hate figure and things will be 100x worse than the start of the whole sorry episode.

 

The club is not fit to host international cricket.

 

Why would Rafiq become a hate figure and not those in charge of the club?

 

Those in charge will rightly be vilified but there will be those looking elsewhere for a scapegoat if (when) the club goes under.

 

The racists will be you mean. I think those of a right mind can see where the blame lays. The YCCC have failed us all, not least azeem. They are the ones to blame.

 

But if racism is present you won't get rid of it by pretending it isn't there. There's been too much sweeping under the carpet already.

 

Agreed, but those of us of a right mind aren't the ones to worry about. We know where the real issue is.

 

If it's to be believed, Rafiq played for Barnsley CC and was also a pupil at Holgate. Anyone remember him in either contexts? In political terms, this debacle ought to be result in the sacking of many members of the board. In playing terms, YCC will lose star players through lost sponsorship and will have less opportunities to attract others, as they may not want to be associated with the club, given this mess. Out of the ashes??? Might rise a new board with the right ideas and forward-thinking. Out of the ashes might rise a new raft of young, multi-racial players, chosen on talent alone. Out of that might emerge a successful side again, but I would give it five to ten years for that to happen. What a total mess!!! YCC should have been open and transparent about this from the outset and should have taken appropriate action. Obstinacy, or head-in-the-sand, or a bit of both? Take your pick. It's going to get a lot worse before it even starts to look like getting better. Utter shambles!

 

I half knew Azeem in his younger days, he’s from around Gawber originally. I went to Wilthorpe Junior School with him and his younger brother. I’ve also been in his company a few times when we were teenagers as he was a friend of some of my friends. Always seemed a decent lad to me but I didn’t know him particularly well.

 

Its a difficult one that - because you're correct that the fans are being punished.

Maybe the answer was to continue holding International Cricket at Headingley, but to make sure all profits are donated to anti-racism charities and that Yorkshire does not benefit from the financial boost that such matches bring.

 

Agreed. That's what should have happened. One of our customers at work and a good friend of mine has lost an estimated 15-20,000 quid because of this decision and he's nothing to do with the cricket club. Should have just found a way to stop them making any money

 

I'd call it the sheer privileged arrogance of the rich and powerful

 

I wonder where Adil Rashid fits into this story obviously at Yorkshire at the same time as Azeem Rafiq but unless I've missed him commenting or being interviewed on the subject of racism at YCCC he seems to have kept quiet. Is this another horror story to come out later.

 

YCCC haven’t lost international cricket, they have to demonstrate compliance before they are allowed to hold another international fixture.

That decision should light a fire under them to get this resolved satisfactorily.

 

Funny isn't it how Michael Vaughan usually can't wait to put a load of **** on twitter but as of yet I've seen nothing in regards to this situation with Yorkshire.

 

Talk of the devil

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket...Echobox&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1636058895

 

The Azeem Rafiq-Yorkshire story has dominated the news and as a pundit I would normally comment on what has happened.

But it has been very difficult for me to speak about it and I want to explain why that has been the case.

From Azeem’s early days at Yorkshire, I was a massive fan of this young, dynamic player. He thought out of the box and that excited me. He got Yorkshire going. He was full of energy and buzz. I felt that he had something about him and I was vocal about the fact that I thought he potentially had a good career ahead of him.

As a lover of cricket and Yorkshire, and someone who has been a fan of Rafiq, it has been difficult to hear about the painful experiences he endured during his time at the club.

But as difficult as that process has been, I recognise that it is equally necessary. At an individual level, it is clear that Azeem has endured a lot. It is not only right but essential that his experiences and his perspective are heard. There are unquestionably lessons to be learned.

The statements made by Gary Ballance and others have laid bare awkward but necessary questions for cricket to answer regarding how dressing rooms, teams and individuals function in the modern era.

In December 2020 I was asked to speak to the independent panel formed by Yorkshire to investigate Rafiq’s claims. Other than having well-known and longstanding associations to the club I had no idea why they wanted to speak to me but I agreed to make myself available.

The night before I was due to give evidence, out of the blue, I was hit with the news that Rafiq was alleging that in 2009, when I was still a player and before a Yorkshire match against Nottinghamshire, I had said to Rafiq and two other Asian players as we walked onto the field together that there are “too many of you lot, we need to do something about it”.

This hit me very hard. It was like being struck over the head with a brick. I have been involved in cricket for 30 years and never once been accused of any remotely similar incident or disciplinary offence as a player or commentator. That the allegation came completely out of the blue and more than a decade after it was alleged to have happened made it all the more difficult to process

I completely and categorically deny that I ever said those words. I responded to the panel by saying I was gobsmacked and that my professional legal advice was that I could not appear before a panel having had just a few hours’ notice of the such serious claims made against me.

It was 11 years after the alleged event. Nothing at all was raised or said at the time of the game in question. It was not mentioned at the time or at any stage over the next 11 years until the night before I was asked to speak to the inquiry.

Rafiq is pursuing an ongoing live compensation claim against Yorkshire. He announced that at the same time as I was asked to speak with the Yorkshire panel. My legal team sent a series of questions to the Yorkshire panel asking about guarantees of confidentiality, the terms of reference and which inquiry - the Yorkshire one or the employment tribunal - had precedence. It seemed remarkable to me and to my advisors that there were to be two parallel inquiries into substantially the same issues, with the potential for different findings on those same issues.


The answers we received from the panel were not satisfactory so I declined to appear before the Yorkshire hearing, pending clarification on the nature of any claims that would also be addressed in Rafiq’s compensation claim through the Employment Tribunal.

I have nothing to hide. The “you lot” comment never happened. Anyone trying to recollect words said 10 years ago will be fallible but I am adamant those words were not used. If Rafiq believes something was said at the time to upset him then that is what he believes. It is difficult to comment on that except to say it hurts me hugely to think I potentially affected someone. I take it as the most serious allegation ever put in front of me and I will fight to the end to prove I am not that person.

It was also alleged that later, when I was advising Yorkshire on playing matters, I said in front of Azeem that Yorkshire should sign Kane Williamson as a Twenty20 player because he bowls off-spin as well as bats. Azeem states in his evidence that bowling “off-spin” was said in his presence to make him feel inferior.


First of all I would never have said that in front of a group. My relationship with Yorkshire was to watch on match days and give a view on how they could improve. I saw the way Williamson played in Twenty20 cricket and recognised that we needed three-dimensional cricketers in our top four who could score runs, bowl overs and field well. Never have I discriminated against anyone or judged a player based on race.

All I ask and all I have ever asked is ‘how can we improve as a team?’ By suggesting Yorkshire sign Williamson I was attempting to improve the team and my cricket knowledge suggests that was the right call. Again, it hurts to be told that Rafiq believes that in recommending the signature of Williamson, I was attacking him and that I was doing so on grounds of race.

In time, I am more than happy to meet with Azeem. I would welcome it. I would like to sit with him, listen to what he went through and understand his perspective. It has been very hard for me to communicate with him directly for legal reasons but I hope we can now talk in person and understand each other’s point of view.

I absolutely deny that I ever said what he claims and that I recommended Kane Williamson for anything other than purely cricketing reasons. But having heard what has come out in the last few days, I can see how his perspective, and his experience was clearly very different to how I saw things at Yorkshire at that time.

I played professional cricket for 18 years between 1991 and 2009. All players in that period are now looking back on things that were said and admit they would not say them now. I never heard racist abuse but Yorkshire was a hard dressing room. As a second team player we had to knock on the dressing room door before entering. If you had a big nose, were bald or carried a bit of weight they would be commented on.

I was the first non-Yorkshire born player to play for the county and that was commented on a lot. I am not comparing those examples with racism but they are examples of previously commonplace behaviour which is unacceptable now. We cannot change what was said or happened in dressing rooms 10-15 years ago but we can learn from it.


During the summer, I told my colleagues at the BBC that these allegations had been made against me. I felt uncomfortable that it could emerge and they would be asked some awkward questions. Similarly, I am speaking now because it is right for people to hear my side and that I completely deny the allegations.

I accept Yorkshire have dealt with this terribly. They will be honest enough to admit that. It is a good cricket club and it is close to my heart. I hope I can be part of the movement to rebrand the club and people will eventually look back on this time and say it changed for the better.

The Yorkshire I love is a club that only wants to produce the best players and win games of cricket. Clearly there are issues in English cricket, spread wider than Yorkshire, about why so many young Asian players are not graduating through to the professional game.

A good number of the young cricketers I see and enjoy watching around the pathway programme are Asian and yet so few make it to first team county cricket. We have to improve the pathway to make sure their talent is nurtured and we need to listen to them and their families about why it is not happening.

We cannot use the old excuses that they do not like the culture of Saturday afternoon games or parents do not want their children to pursue cricket and to study instead. It is for the game to make it work for them to make the most of this huge talent pool.

 

Very interesting article. Vaughan denying all accusations.
Might be easier to write a list of those at Yorkshire who are not implicated. I didn't realise this would go back to 2009.

 

When I mentioned Michael Vaughan earlier I didn't expect it to come out same day. More names in the coming week.....

 

I have to say the accusation surrounding the Kane Williamson signing seems a tad over the top. So all Vaughan allegedly said was that he's a fantastic batman and he can bowl some off spin.