Rafiq to testify in parliament over allegations of racism in Yorkshire | Locust

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Azeem Rafiq was fortunate enough to share his experiences of racism in Yorkshire when the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee (DCMS) tackled the crisis that engulfed the club later this month.

Rafiq, 30, was invited to testify before Parliament in a session on November 16 which is also expected to see Roger Hutton, the Yorkshire president, Mark Arthur, the managing director, and Martyn Moxon, the cricket director at the club, questioned by deputies.

The problem has come to a head in recent days after details of the Yorkshire report were made public by ESPNCricinfo. These include the allegation that a senior player repeatedly used the word “Paki”, something described as “in the spirit of a friendly joke” in the club’s summary of the findings of his investigation.

This prompted a group of MPs to voice their concern, with Sajid Javid the Health Secretary tweeting that ‘heads should fall’ at Yorkshire and Julian Knight, DCMS chairman, adding: ‘I have a hard time thinking for a reason why the board of directors must remain in office.

Rafiq is currently involved in a long-standing employment tribunal case with the club over his 2018 departure, while the England and Wales Cricket Council launched its own investigation into the case after having received an unredacted copy of the report last week.

The allegations first came to light in August 2020 when, in an article chronicling his career with wisden.com, Rafiq said he admitted he wished he had done more to push back locker room culture at the time. .

Subsequent interviews, in which the former England Under-19 captain expanded on his experiences, prompted Yorkshire to hire law firm Squire Patton Boggs to look into the matter. Over the next 12 months, they spoke to 26 witnesses, with a summary of the findings released in September and confirming seven of Rafiq’s 43 claims.

These included the admission that the club had not properly escalated Rafiq’s allegations when he first raised them with Arthur, Moxon and Hanif Malik, a non-executive director who also chairs the committee of Yorkshire Cricket Equality and Diversity, 2018.

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However, last week Yorkshire announced that after an internal review of its report – something which to date has not been released – no action has been taken against the current employees. This, and the revelations that followed, prompted the DCMS committee to act and now offer Rafiq the opportunity to develop his claims.

Covered by parliamentary privilege, the session could see previously undisclosed names made public. With the Yorkshire report summary finding three separate cases of racist language used by former players prior to 2010, and a former coach who used racist language prior to 2012, this could be revealing.

Likewise, the session will also offer Hutton, Arthur and Moxon the opportunity to present their side of events, having so far remained publicly silent on the matter since the club’s investigation launched in September 2020.

Anchor Butter was the first sponsor to end their relationship with Yorkshire on Monday, after sponsoring the Royal London Cup first team jerseys, while Emerald and Tetley are expected to review their partnerships.

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