Cricket in the dock
Player in racism storm fights back tears as he describes ‘inhuman’ daily bullying by former teammates
CRICKETER Azeem Rafiq fought back tears yesterday as MPs heard bombshell allegations of institutional racism at the heart of the English game.
In a devastating 90-minute testimony to a Commons committee, Rafiq recalled his ‘inhuman’ treatment at Yorkshire County Cricket Club and accused senior players of racist bullying.
The 30-year-old former bowler said the word P*** was ‘used constantly’ in his time at the club – and that racism continues to be rife in county teams across the country.
At one point the hearing had to be halted as Rafiq broke down in tears describing his treatment after he lost his unborn child, with a senior official ‘ripping the shreds’ off him instead of offering support.
The cricketer was giving evidence to MPs on the digital, culture, media and sport committee after a report earlier this year found he was a victim of ‘racial harassment and bullying’ but the club said they would not discipline anyone. The remarks have also been dismissed by other players as ‘banter’.
In his highly emotional account Rafiq said he had lost his career to racism after making an official complaint about bullying, but hoped that by speaking out he could change the game.
He said the word ‘P***’ was ‘used constantly’ and Asian players were told to sit ‘near the toilets’ and referred to as ‘elephant washers’.
He told how, aged 15 and a practising Muslim, he was ‘pinned down’ and had red wine poured down his throat by a senior player at his local cricket club.
And he said racism had seeped into the England dressing room, where it was an ‘open secret’ that the England and Yorkshire player Gary Ballance used the word ‘Kevin’ as a derogatory word for black and Asian players, an allegation Ballance has denied.
Rafiq also criticised other players not directly involved in racist behaviour for failing to recognise the damaging culture and doing nothing to stamp it out.
They included England test captain Joe Root – described by Rafiq as ‘a good man’ – who was present when racist slurs were made.
He said problems began with Yorkshire CCC’s hierarchy when he was labelled a troublemaker for complaining about bullying by a teammate. It came to a head in his treatment by cricket director Martyn Moxon during his wife’s difficult pregnancy, which ended in the unborn child dying.
Choking back tears, the father of two said: ‘My first day back after losing my son Martyn Moxon literally got me in a room and ripped the shreds off me. I’ve never seen him speak to anyone like that through my time at the club and I couldn’t believe it.’
Rafiq named England players Ballance and Tim Bresnan among the alleged ‘bullies’, and said coach and commentator David Lloyd made inappropriate remarks.
Rafiq also slammed the report into the allegations as ‘shoddy at best’.
He criticised the sport’s ruling body the England and Wales Cricket Board for failing to intervene sooner, saying that its initiatives on diversity were ‘tokenism’.
And he branded the Professional Cricketers’ Association ‘incredibly inept’, saying that the organisation, which represents players, only intervened in November last year to ‘tick a box in case I killed myself’.
Counties also failed to acknowledge the racism issue, MPs were told. ‘I just don’t think the game wants to listen,’ he said.
Asked yesterday if Yorkshire county cricket was ‘institutionally racist’, former chairman Roger Hutton told MPs: ‘Yes, I fear it falls under that definition.’
Yorkshire recently settled Mr Rafiq’s employment tribunal claim of racial harassment and bullying by paying him a six-figure sum.
But the refusal to publish the independent report into his complaints and the failure by Yorkshire County Cricket Club to take action against anyone responsible has sparked public fury.
Last night, David Lloyd issued an apology over private messages he sent in October last year about Rafiq and the Asian cricket community, saying: ‘I deeply regret my actions... and for any offence caused.’