RAFIQ: CRICKET DOESN’T WANT TO DEAL WITH RACISM
AZEEM RAFIQ has claimed he has not heard back from Yorkshire, six months after the club launched an inquiry to investigate his accusations of institutional racism.
“I spoke out and I thought it would be the start of a healing process but it’s been anything but that,” Rafiq, 30, told the Daily Mail.
“It’s been really difficult for me to understand how it has all unfolded. I’ve had some dark days. I wanted to be as honest as possible and I wanted everyone to know what was going on at Yorkshire when I played there.
“But I don’t think cricket wants to listen. I don’t feel as though the game is prepared to do something really meaningful about all this. I’ve been left really hurt.”
The claims of bias came after Rafiq decided to leave Yorkshire County Cricket Club in 2018 after nearly 10 years, and in a tweet talked about the things he hoped would improve there.
His explosive claims were picked up by the national media, resulting in Yorkshire setting up the inquiry.
Rafiq said he had told the inquiry, “You’ve been handed a massive responsibility”.
But there has been no communication from them since that day, he revealed.
Rafiq, an off-spinning allrounder who captained England in the U-19 World Cup in 2010 with a side that included Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler, said all that was behind him now and all he wanted was justice.
“At the start of this I didn’t want to cause any trouble for anyone, but the further I’ve gone through the process, I do think there has to be some level of accountability. It’s very important if any trust is to be won back. I do want justice,” he said.
Rafiq said he expected people to listen to and act on his claims, but now they wanted all of this “to go away”.
“The whole reason for speaking out was to get some sort of closure. I never expected it to be easy, but it’s been tough to hear about some of the things that have been happening behind the scenes,” he admitted.
“I want to give Yorkshire a chance but it’s getting to the point where I feel enough is enough. I did not think I would be getting threats to my family and my business.
“Whether that’s me being naive or not, I don’t know, but the political side of this has been a real eye opener for me. And how the system works. I genuinely thought people would want to listen and find a way to move forward. Now I just think they want it all to go away.”
At Yorkshire, Rafiq claimed he was a victim of regular verbal abuse and was called a ‘P***’ and ‘elephant washer’. He said a leading figure at the club told him, ‘There’s too many of you lot here’, referring to British Asian players at Yorkshire. During his playing time, there was a captain who was openly racist, he added.
Rafiq said: “I don’t think this conversation is ever going to become comfortable but people need to start looking at themselves and the effect they can have on others. Not being racist is not good enough any more. You can’t just say, ‘I’m staying out of it.’ I really don’t think anyone who is in a position to affect change can do that any more. Surely there has to be some humanity in the game and it’s time we saw some of that now.”