Moxon and Arthur refuse to resign after Hutton’s parting shot
ECB accused of rejecting plea to help Yorkshire’s probe Chairman quits and hits out at chief executive and director
Yorkshire’s beleaguered chief executive and director of cricket stood defiant last night after their chairman and other board members quit in disgrace following the racism scandal to engulf the club.
Mark Arthur and Martyn Moxon were clinging on to their jobs after being publicly accused by Roger Hutton – until yesterday effectively their boss – of a “constant unwillingness” to apologise over their part in the saga.
Hutton quit dramatically ahead of a board meeting at which he faced being ousted and called on Moxon and Arthur to follow suit after the club were banned from staging England matches and other showpiece fixtures over their handling of an unprecedented crisis that has brought shame on the game.
At that board meeting, Lord Patel of Bradford, who last year retired as a director of the England and Wales Cricket Board, took the Headingley hot-seat after being asked to steer the county through the worst crisis in their 158-year history.
Yorkshire later confirmed Stephen Willis, the non-executive director who was on the panel that ruled Gary Ballance calling Azeem Rafiq a “P--i” had been banter, and Hanif Malik had also quit.
Malik had stood down from the racism panel last year after Rafiq objected to his presence, claiming no action had been taken when concerns were previously outlined to him and the Yorkshire management. The club said vice-chairman Neil Hartley would step aside after helping to ensure “a smooth transition to a new leadership”.
Colin Graves had been willing to return as chairman but that was ultimately viewed as being too toxic an appointment. There had been accusations that Yorkshire had been institutionally racist during his previous tenure.
Lord Patel said: “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. Yorkshire is lucky to have a vast talent pool of cricketers, and passionate supporters, from all of our communities and we must reengage with everyone to make a better Yorkshire CCC for everyone.”
Yesterday’s resignations came after the Daily Mail reported another, unnamed, player had complained to club about racist abuse there, including that he was urinated on, and that he overheard two players admitting to using a Muslim prayer mat to clean up a hotel room after they both had sex with a woman.
Announcing his own departure, Hutton apologised “unreservedly” to Rafiq over the club’s handling of his own racism accusations and said there had been a “constant unwillingness from the executive members of the board and senior management” to do the same.
He later appeared to disown the findings of the review panel appointed by Yorkshire by telling the BBC that Ballance calling Rafiq a “P--i” had been “absolutely unacceptable”.
The Daily Telegraph was told yesterday Arthur and Moxon had no plans to quit and were leaving their fate in the hands of Lord Patel.
Graves, who was ECB chairman until last year, and Lord Patel served together on the board of the governing body and it remains to be seen whether the latter’s appointment will satisfy those who have demanded wholesale change.
Hutton’s resignation statement also accused the ECB of having refused to help with Yorkshire’s own inquiry into the matter.
The governing body said: “Our role is to operate as a regulator across the entire game. We must act independently of any club investigations, should we ever be required to intervene as regulator – either during or after.”
Alex Sobel, the Leeds North West MP, said he was “really concerned” at “the lack of support from the ECB” cited by Hutton.
The ECB is in the process of recruiting a new chairman of its own and Sobel said it needed to appoint somebody “capable of showing the leadership” to guide the sport through the current crisis.
“If everybody just buries their heads in the sand then things will get worse not just for Yorkshire but for the game of cricket,” he added.
Yorkshire yesterday wrote to ticket-holders for the international games they had been awarded next summer promising to take the action required for them not to be moved elsewhere.
They faced a race against time to try and salvage those fixtures, with the ECB giving the club until early spring before opening the bidding for other venues to host them.
Last night it emerged the Equality and Human Rights Commission had made contact with Yorkshire, requesting access to the full independent report into Rafiq’s claims.
Chief executive Marcial Boo said: “We have written to Yorkshire to ask for more information, including a full copy of their investigation report, to determine if there has been a breach of the law. We will take action if so.”