Rafiq details racism at Yorkshire cricket club
Former cricketer Azeem Rafiq has told the DMCS (Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport) of the racist abuse he suffered during his time at Yorkshire County Cricket Club.
On Tuesday (November 16), the 30-year-old accused several players of racism and bullying including Gary Ballance, Alex Hales, and Tim Bresnan. In his statement he said, “"Pretty early on, me and other people from an Asian background...there were comments such as ‘you’ll sit over there near the toilets’, ‘elephant washers’. The word P*** was used constantly.”
Tim Bresnan, who currently plays for Warwickshire, was accused by Rafiq of bullying as well as frequently making racist comments. Bresnan has denied making such statements, saying that it is “absolutely not true” but has apologised for “any part I played in contributing to Azeem Rafiq’s experience of feeling bullied at Yorkshire".
Warwickshire Cricket County Club chairman has said, “… we are seriously concerned to learn of Azeem’s direct allegations against Tim Bresnan. As a result, Warwickshire CCC will seek to talk to Azeem at the earliest opportunity so that we can fully understand the detail of these allegations. We will then talk to Tim to get his perspective. While he is devastated to learn of these newly published allegations, Tim has already told us that he will fully co-operate with this process.”
Taran Toor, 1st XI cricketer, coach, and committee member at Coventry and North Warwickshire Cricket Club, who is Asian himself, said, “I think racism in cricket is a lot more subtle than it is in other sports. I think footballs been the most obvious case in recent years because it’s been [from] the crowd directed at players… I think in cricket it’s deeper rooted and not as obvious. In some cases, I’d say it’s not as intentional. It’s more of cultural thing.”
Toor says that he’s experienced similar cases of racism to Rafiq. “The supposed Michael Vaughan quote… I’ve heard that many times, but only once or twice in an athletic context. On a much less evident level, you get the odd comment that would separate Asians in the way the comments been made. It might not necessarily be an inherently negative comment, but it does kind of maybe judge the way an Asian person lives their life.”
He says, “There is a zero tolerance to discrimination at the club, and luckily we have had little instances where there have been any issues.”
Rafiq said of a 2017 inccident, “We were in a place and Gary Ballance walks over and goes, ‘Why are you talking to him? You know he’s a P***.” Ballance has acknowledged he used a racial slur and apologised.
He continued by saying that Ballance, a former England cricketer and coach, would call people of colour a ‘Kevin’. “A ‘Kevin’ was something Gary used to describe anyone of colour in a very derogatory manner. It was an open secret in the England dressing room. Anyone who came across Gary would know that was a phrase he would use to describe people of colour.”
Alex Hales denied that the name of his dog, Kevin, has any racist connotations, but has apologised for photos from 2009 which appear to show him in blackface.
Rafiq has since apologised for text messages which contained anti-Semitic statements from 2011.