Graves offers olive branch to sacked Yorkshire staff, provided it does not ‘ignite the volcano’
STAFF sacked by Yorkshire during the racism crisis would be welcome back at the club.
Colin Graves, the Yorkshire chair, said there would be no restriction on anyone applying for a job provided that certain criteria were met.
Fourteen people were sacked by Lord Kamlesh Patel, a previous chair, for signing a cry-for-help letter to the board at the time which criticised Azeem Rafiq’s “one-man mission to bring down the club”.
Others left the organisation around that time at the height of cricket’s most toxic scandal.
Graves said no one had any desire to “reignite the volcano” but said that he would not penalise people unfairly.
Speaking at Yorkshire’s annual general meeting at Headingley on Saturday, Graves said: “People who left this club through circumstances and had nothing, if you like, levelled at them or charged against them by the ECB – to me, anybody who applies for a job in this club will be welcome to apply provided they’ve got nothing against them regarding the ECB not being allowed to work in cricket, etc, etc.
“We’ve always got to take that into account but, to me, the past is the past. The water’s gone under the bridge. Let’s look forward.
“I think a lot of people feel the same, but the thing we’ve got to be careful with is, we don’t want to reignite the volcano.
“From my point of view, a lot of things have been said. Let’s put it behind us, let’s move forward, and that applies to me personally, I can assure you.”
Asked whether there were any plans to lift the non-disclosure agreements of the sacked staff, with those such as Wayne Morton (who did not sign one) having spoken powerfully and movingly about the trauma they have suffered, Graves said: “Regarding an NDA, I’m not a lawyer.
"Whether those can be rescinded or not, I do not know.
“I’ll check that out to see the legalities of it, whether that’s practical, but the one thing I will say is that, as far as I’m concerned, what’s happened is history.
“I think the sooner we can put it all behind us, the better.”
Saturday’s meeting saw Graves, Phillip Hodson, Sanjay Patel and Sanjeev Gandhi confirmed as independent non-executive directors of the club, and Ian Townsend as a member-nominated non-executive director.
All were passed with overwhelming percentage votes in favour, as were the re-elections to the members’ representative group of Charlotte Evers and Howard Ray.
The meeting also saw Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson step down from the Yorkshire board and from her role as interim chair and trustee of the Yorkshire Cricket Foundation (YCF).
Grey-Thompson told the 200 or so members present: “I just want to say thank you to all the members and everyone who has supported myself and the board in the last two years.
“There’s been a few ups and downs along the way, but it’s been an absolute privilege to be a part of Yorkshire.
"I’ve made some amazing friends and thank you so much.
“I just wish the club all the best for the future.
"I really believe with all the challenges of the last two years there’s a really firm foundation for the club to build on and look forward to the future.”
Graves said in tribute: “I’d like to place on record my thanks on behalf of the board, the members and everyone at the club for all of Tanni’s considerable efforts during her time with the club.”