A report on racism in Yorkshire ruled that Azeem Rafiq was called “P ** i” was a “joke”

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The panel said it “was unreasonable that Azeem was offended”

At least one Yorkshire player has admitted to using the term ‘P ** i’ regularly when speaking to Azeem Rafiq, according to the report on racism at the club. But he was cleared of the wrongdoing on the grounds that they were seen as, according to the report, friendly and good-humored “jokes” between the two players.

The player also admitted to telling other people “don’t talk to him [Rafiq], it’s a P ** i, “asking” is this your uncle? “when they saw bearded asian men and saying” does your dad own them? “referring to the shops around the corner.

Although he admitted to recalling that Rafiq broke down in tears at one point, the player insisted he had no idea he was offending and that he would have stopped if Rafiq had him. demand.

The individual concerned, whom ESPNcricinfo chose not to name, is a current senior player for the club.

While the investigative team (the lawyers who were tasked with gathering evidence for the report) found such comments to be “capable of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, demeaning or offensive environment …” and accepted Rafiq’s “proof that he was offended, degraded or humiliated and that this amounted to harassment under the equality law and the club’s equal opportunities policy,” the panel (which was tasked with formulating conclusions and recommendations and which included a non-executive member of the Yorkshire Board of Directors) disagreed.

Their conclusions indicate that “The Panel does not accept that Azeem was offended by [the other player’s] comments, either at the time they were made or subsequently.

They go on to say that, in the context of “jokes among friends,” one might “expect Rafiq to take such comments in the spirit in which they were intended (i.e. good humor with friends)… [so] it was not reasonable that Azeem should have been offended by [the other player] send him equally offensive or derogatory comments in the same spirit of friendly joke. “

Indeed, the panel accuses Rafiq of using “offensive and racist comments” by referring to a player of Zimbabwean origin as “Zimbo from Zimbabwe”. The panel saw this as “a racist and derogatory term” and recommends that, if Rafiq was still a Yorkshire player, he should face disciplinary action for using him.

The revelation, which comes days after Yorkshire announced that none of its players, coaches or managers would be disciplined as a result of the investigation, could heighten doubts about the process and the report that was produced. In particular, in equating the terms “P ** i”, which is a long-established derogatory term with a history of racist use, and “Zimbo”, which is generally considered to be an abbreviation akin to Aussie or Kiwi without association pejorative, is likely to raise eyebrows.

The ECB, which received the Yorkshire report in recent days after several months of delay, is now reviewing the information.

George Dobell is Senior Correspondent at ESPNcricinfo

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