London: Yorkshire County Cricket said it is in touch with a former player who said ‘institutional racism’ at the club left him near to taking his own life. Former England U-19 captain Azeem Rafiq, said in an interview with ESPNcricinfo that he was made to feel, as a Muslim, like an ‘outsider’ during his time at Yorkshire.
“I know how close I was to committing suicide during my time at Yorkshire,” he said. Do I think there is institutional racism? It’s at its peak in my opinion,” Rafiq added. “It’s worse than it’s ever been.” The 29-year-old Rafiq played for Yorkshire from 2009-17. He is currently not in the cricketing front.
Real change comes from openness & honesty .. i have tried to be incredibly honest about my experiences & how that is affected my every day life & my career.. as i know there is lots that have gone through it & lots still accepting it quietly for the fear of isolation 1/2 https://t.co/hsy4eqLZOK
— Azeem Rafiq (@AzeemRafiq30) September 3, 2020
In response to Rafiq’s comments, Yorkshire said in a statement to the PA news agency that the chairman of its Equality and Diversity Committee, Hanif Malik, is ‘in contact with Azeem about the allegations and will report back to the committee.’ England captain Eoin Morgan said he was amazed at Rafiq’s comment, especially because of the various nature of the team.
England’s team included two players — Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid with Pakistani legacy, as well as Barbados-born paceman Jofra Archer and South Africa-born opener Jason Roy. Morgan himself was born in Ireland.
“The ECB has been active in trying to rectify and become more diverse, and create equal opportunity for everybody,” Morgan said in a video call. “Given the squad of players we have and the guys of different cultures, backgrounds, races, the diverse nature of it really does epitomize where English cricket is at.
“I think travelling around during last year’s World Cup and going to 10 different grounds around the country, watching the supporters flood in of all different races, all following England, was great. It made us all feel very proud.”
CLUB STATEMENT: Yorkshire County Cricket Club Chair Roger Hutton has released the following statement #OneRose
— Yorkshire CCC (@YorkshireCCC) September 3, 2020
Morgan said English cricket needed to get better at allowing players from ‘a diverse background’ to tell their story more. “It is our continued ambition to try and create more sustainable awareness around our fight against racism and the creation of equal opportunity, and equality in sport is important to drive that forward, because it shouldn’t exist in society,” he said. “There is no place (for it) in society. When people talk about it, they should feel comfortable talking about it and coming out, and we want everyone to know that.”
Rafiq said in the interview that ‘Yorkshire don’t want to listen and they don’t want to change. And part of the reason for that,’ he said, ‘is the people who were involved in the incidents I’m talking about are still at the club. They just want to sweep it under the carpet,’ he concluded.
