Rafiq’s testimony on racism
Key statements of ex-Yorkshire player Azeem Rafiq’s testimony to the British parliamentary committee on the racism he encountered at the County team
ON RACIAL SLURS
“From early on there was a lot of ‘You lot sit over there near the toilets’. The word ‘Paki’ was used constantly, no one ever stamped it out. All I wanted to do was play cricket.”
ON BALLANCE
“(Ballance) used a racial slur in 2017 and the pre-season tour. I want to address Gary’s statement. There was a narrative there that we were the best of team mates. “When he came to the club from Derby I saw in him what I saw in myself, as an outsider. A lot of players called Gary things that were completely out of order, but it was such a norm that no one said anything.”
ON ECB ROLE
“ECB has to take some responsibility too. It’s their game, they’re the regulators (with) their actions with the T-shirts, taking the knee. They need to stop palming off (responsibility) to other bodies.”
ON RACISM FROM TEAM MATES
“I felt isolated. (Yorkshire batsman Gary) Ballance came over and said: ‘Why are you talking to him, he’s not a Sheikh, he hasn’t got oil.’ Going past a corner shop, I was asked if my uncle owned it.”
‘STEVE’, ‘KEVIN’ FOR ASIAN ORIGIN PLAYERS
“Everyone called (Pujara ‘Steve’), high-profile players around the world, it shows the institutional failings. ‘Kevin’... Gary used for people of colour in a derogatory manner. He and Alex Hales got close to each other playing for England but I understand Alex went on to name his dog Kevin because it was black.”
ON BEING FORCED TO DRINK ALCOHOL AGED 15
“My first incident of drinking, I was 15, I got pinned down at my local cricket club and had red wine poured down my throat. The player played for Yorkshire and Hampshire. “I felt like I had to drink to fit in. I regret that massively, but it has no bearing on the things I was called.” “All I wanted was acceptance, an apology, understanding... When I raised the complaints again, it was a complete denial. I was lucky to be supported by certain members of the press but I felt like social media was my voice.”
ON FORMER ENGLAND PLAYER MATTHEW HOGGARD’S APOLOGY
“After my Sky interview, I took a call from Hoggard and he said, ‘I’m sorry if some of the comments made you feel how you described it’. I said ‘Thank you, appreciate it’.”
ON RACISM ACROSS THE COUNTRY AND PROBLEMS SPEAKING OUT
“Without a shadow of a doubt, this is replicated up and down the country... I’d like to see it as progress that people feel they can come forward and not be smeared against and discredited.”
ON PROFESSIONAL PLAYERS’ BODY
“I found the PCA stance incredibly inept. It was ‘Oh, we’ve got members on both sides’. You’re protecting the perpetrators and you have no interest in where this is taking me? “The PCA kept telling me when the report comes out, they would support me. Once it did, they said we have no powers, we can just push the ECB. An organisation that should have been there for me and supported me left to fight on my own.”
ON WHY HE RETURNED TO YORKSHIRE FOR A SECOND SPELL
“In my first spell, there were things that happened that I didn’t see for what they were. I was in denial. “In 2016 I started well and I was training with Derbyshire. They didn’t have the finances to offer me a contract. I was in a position where putting food on the table was difficult, so that’s why I went back. “For a person of colour to accept you’re being treated differently because of your race or religion is tough to take. You’re always asking, ‘Why?’ I didn’t want to believe it. After the loss of my son, I couldn’t look the other way.”