ECB to launch investigation into Rafiq’s anti-semitic messages
Yorkshire bowler’s 2011 slurs revealed last week plan expected to be published on Wednesday
⮞anti-racism
Azeem Rafiq is facing an investigation by the England and Wales Cricket Board over the exchange of messages with another cricketer in which he used anti-semitic slurs.
In the latest twist in cricket’s racism crisis, the ECB has confirmed it will take action against the former Yorkshire off-spinner following his apology last week for sending the offensive messages in 2011, when he was 19. Rafiq had referenced a Derbyshire player, Atif Sheikh, being reluctant to spend money on a meal out because “he is a Jew”. He added that Sheikh would “probs go after my 2nds [second helping of food] again ha”, adding: “Only Jews do tht [sic] sort of s---.”
The messages to Ateeq Javid were leaked less than 48 hours after Rafiq appeared before a parliamentary committee and delivered harrowing testimony about cricket’s racism scandal. “We have procedures in place to address conduct and allegations of this nature, and we will investigate accordingly,” an ECB spokesperson said. “We want cricket to be an inclusive, welcoming game for everyone.”
The ECB is already investigating Yorkshire and Rafiq’s complaints of racial harassment and bullying, as well as a separate allegation that former Essex chairman John Faragher used racist language at a board meeting in 2017. Faragher denies the allegation. The ECB had also already indefinitely suspended Gary Ballance from England selection, a position that will be reviewed following its regulatory investigation into his conduct. Ballance had admitted using the word P---, but argued that it was in the context of a “friendly verbal attack”. A panel appointed by Yorkshire as part of an investigation into Rafiq’s claims that the club were institutionally racist had earlier found him guilty of racial abuse by calling Ballance, who was born in Zimbabwe, “Zimbo”. However, this finding was widely condemned. The same five-strong panel found Ballance calling Rafiq a P--had been “banter”, which he was not entitled to be offended by.
The panel did find that Rafiq had been subjected to racial harassment and bullying at Yorkshire, and that the club had failed to investigate allegations of racism when they were raised in 2018.
Speaking to the Jewish News, Rafiq referenced his past lack of contact with the Jewish community and promised that he would educate himself. “I just hope that they can see that I am genuinely sorry,” he said. “I haven’t really integrated much with the Jewish community. I’ve been around cricket all my life, and I don’t recall having a teammate from the Jewish community.”
Rafiq’s statement also said that he had “absolutely no excuses”. The
ECB has stressed that no one is immune from its disciplinary processes, and that there is no statute of limitations over historic messages.
The ECB is also working on a 12-point action plan, which it intends to publish on Wednesday.
There is an internal acceptance at the ECB that anti-discrimination policies have been exposed.
Conversations inside the ECB have centred on the urgent implementation of a game-wide whistleblowing policy, which includes a “softer” mechanism that will allow participants to raise poor cultures and practices without it necessarily becoming a full-blown disciplinary issue. The governing body is working with the Professional Cricketers’ Association on a major drive around dressing room cultures and with the counties on ethnicity targets, with leaders told that their boards should reflect local communities.