WHAT THEY SAID
For much of my time at the club, I experienced a culture that refuses to accept change or challenge.
I am sorry that we could not persuade executive members of the board to recognise the gravity of the situation and show care and contrition.
I want to be clear that when I was made aware of Azeem Rafiq’s allegations, I immediately reached out to the ECB to ask for their help and intervention to support a robust inquiry.
I was saddened when they declined to help, as I felt it was a matter of great importance for the game as a whole.
FORMER YORKSHIRE CHAIRMAN
ROGER HUTTON
I refute it. What we were asked to do was join the Yorkshire panel to be part of the investigation, which clearly we cannot do.
We are the regulator, we either run the investigation in its entirety ourselves or we let our stakeholders run an investigation in the entirety itself. But a quasi kind of involvement being regulated and part of the membership of an investigation is completely against the role that we play.
ECB CHIEF EXECUTIVE TOM HARRISON
I’m looking forward to taking this club forward and driving the change that is needed.
The club needs to learn from its past errors, regain trust and rebuild relationships with our communities. There is much work to do, including reading the panel’s report, so we can begin the process of learning from our past mistakes. NEW YORKSHIRE CHAIRMAN LORD KAMLESH PATEL
Yorkshire’s former England captain Michael Vaughan is named in the report and is alleged to have told Rafiq:
“Too many of you lot, we need to do something about it.”
Vaughan says: “I know that in my life, I’ve never said anything racist to anybody. So, that’s what I stand by.
“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.
“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.”