‘We must highlight the atrocious way this process continues to be handled’ – Azeem Rafiq responds to Yorkshire investigation

Yorkshire have admitted that former player Azeem Rafiq was “the victim of racial harassment” during his first spell at the club.

Rafiq first outlined his experiences of racism at the club in an interview with Wisden.com in August 2020, and after an interview with ESPNcricinfo – in which he explained that his experiences left him on the brink of suicide – Yorkshire launched an investigation which was conducted by law firm Squire Patton Boggs. An independent panel was appointed “to oversee the integrity of the investigation, make their own findings and propose recommendations to the Club”.

The off-spinner represented the club’s first team across two separate spells after making his debut in 2008. He was released by the club in 2018.

The club has not published the panel’s report citing the legal implications of doing so but has instead released a summary of it and its recommendations. “The Club has been advised of its responsibilities in relation to privacy law and defamation and as such, is not able to publish the full report,” said chairman Roger Hutton in a statement.

According to Hutton’s statement, Rafiq made more than 40 allegations against the club, of which seven were upheld. “Insufficient evidence” was the reason granted for some allegations not being upheld. “There is no question that Azeem Rafiq, during his first spell as a player at YCCC, was the victim of racial harassment,” added Hutton. “He was also subsequently the victim of bullying. On behalf of all at YCCC, I wish to extend my sincere, profound and unreserved apologies to Azeem and to his family.”

Hutton’s statement outlined the allegations that were upheld:

Allegations upheld that were made by Azeem Rafiq

Published by Yorkshire CCC

1. When Azeem Rafiq was playing junior cricket for Yorkshire, he was not provided with halal food at matches. This has now been rectified.

2. Prior to 2010 the Panel found that there were three separate incidents of racist language being used by former players which were found to be harassment on the grounds of race.

3. Before 2012 a former coach regularly used racist language.

4. During his second spell at Yorkshire between 2016 and 2018 there were jokes made around religion which made individuals uncomfortable about their religious practices.

5. During his second spell at the Club, a former player made references to Azeem Rafiq’s weight and fitness that amounted to bullying.

6. In August 2018, when Azeem Rafiq raised concerns of racism there was a failure by the Club to follow its own policy or investigate these allegations.

7. Finally, that on a number of occasions prior to 2018 the Club could have done more to make Muslims more welcome within their stadiums and should have dealt better with complaints of racist or anti-social behaviour within those stadiums.

Hutton’s statement added that within the report “there was insufficient evidence to conclude that Yorkshire County Cricket Club is institutionally racist”.

In response to Yorkshire’s release, a spokesperson for Azeem Rafiq said: “We note that Yorkshire County Cricket Club has confirmed Azeem was the victim of racism and bullying during his two spells at Headingley.

“However, we must highlight the atrocious way this process continues to be handled. Azeem was not given any notice of this morning’s statement – he received a copy only a couple of minutes before the media.

“Azeem and his team are not in a position to properly understand the club’s conclusions and how they reached them, because Yorkshire has not provided a copy of the report. This is clearly unacceptable and an abuse of process.

“What is clear is that Yorkshire County Cricket Club admits racism and bullying has taken place on many occasions, yet won’t accept the obvious – that this is an institutional problem.

“We also note that Baroness Morgan, the former Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, has written to Yorkshire County Cricket Club in recent days demanding that Azeem see a full copy of the report. We further note the letter to Yorkshire from Julian Knight, the chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, on Wednesday. We welcome their interventions.

“We will provide a fuller statement in the coming days.”

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