Rafiq hit with sexual harassment claims
AZEEM RAFIQ is accused of sexually harassing women on two separate occasions while playing at Yorkshire in explosive legal documents lodged at the High Court.
The extraordinary allegations have emerged in a legal battle between Yorkshire and their former physio Wayne Morton. His company, Pavilion Physiotherapy Clinic, are suing Yorkshire for breach of contract after Morton was one of 16 members of coaching and medical staff sacked last year.
In their legal submissions, Yorkshire accuse Morton of covering up an alleged incident of indecent exposure by Rafiq, which is said to have taken place during their Twenty20
Champions League campaign in South Africa in October 2012. They cite the alleged cover-up as one of the reasons for sacking Morton after 38 years as physio at Headingley. Rafiq (below), whose allegations of racism against former Yorkshire team-mates have rocked the sport, is accused of exposing himself in the dressing room to a female massage therapist who was contracted to Yorkshire. Morton’s submission goes on to detail another alleged incident of indecent exposure by Rafiq to a hotel cleaner in Northampton three months before the South Africa trip. A spokesperson for Rafiq strongly denied both allegations.
Yorkshire claim there was a meeting between Morton and then chief executive Paul Hudson on November 22 last year, during which, ‘Mr Morton stated that he covered up the alleged abuse and implied he had acted properly in doing so’. Morton denies such a meeting took place. He was not on the South Africa tour but says that after receiving a complaint from the masseur he reported it to chief executive Colin Graves, who asked him to produce a formal report. Graves claimed yesterday that both allegations of indecent exposure were addressed by Yorkshire at the time.
‘As I recall, he received a verbal warning and the matter was dealt with by the management structure in the cricket department,’ he said. Morton’s legal documents go on to make allegations regarding ‘endless episodes of Azeem’s bad behaviour’ while at Yorkshire, referencing the notorious letter sent by 14 members of staff to the club’s hierarchy last October, in which they claimed Rafiq did not share ‘White Rose Values’. All 14 signatories of the letter were sacked two months later. ‘These incidents were amongst the incidents alluded to in the October 14 letter when it referred, inter alia, to “endless episodes of Azeem’s bad behaviour, well known to the club”,’ the submission states. A spokesperson for Rafiq said: ‘People who have been desperate for the sport to retain its toxic culture have spread numerous variations of these false allegations. Every time they have been shown to be incorrect and falsified.’