Azeem Rafiq: Yorkshire urged to publish report on racism allegations by DCMS
Yorkshire issued "profound apologies" to Azeem Rafiq last month after a report upheld some of his allegations; Rafiq strongly condemned Yorkshire's statement after the county said their former player was a "victim of inappropriate behaviour"
Wednesday 8 September 2021 16:24, UK
DCMS Committee Chair Julian Knight has called on Yorkshire to immediately publish its report into allegations of racism made by former player Azeem Rafiq.
Last month the county club said its report upheld several of the allegations made by Rafiq and found their now former player had been the victim of "inappropriate behaviour".
Yorkshire issued "profound apologies" to Rafiq, who condemned their statement and questioned why the full report had not been released.
While Yorkshire said they aimed to "publish as much of the report and recommendations as we are able...in the coming weeks", the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee has called on the county to hasten the process.
"We are very surprised that this report has not been published by the Yorkshire County Cricket Club, given the seriousness of the allegations of racism which span more than a decade and the fact that it has taken almost three years to reach this point," DCMS Committee Chair Julian Knight MP said.
"Given that YCCC said in its statement that several allegations made against the club had been upheld, and that Azeem Rafiq had been a victim of inappropriate behaviour, it is crucial that the process, the report and its full findings are made public and open to scrutiny. He deserves no less."
Knight wrote a letter to Yorkshire CEO Mark Arthur, stating the findings of the investigation are "firmly within the public interest".
"The Committee calls on you to publish the full report, including all of the recommendations, immediately," Knight adds.
Sky Sports News has approached Yorkshire CCC for a response to Knight's letter.
Speaking to Sky Sports News last month, Rafiq - who had two spells at Yorkshire between 2008 and 2018 - said the report is "difficult to understand", claiming his allegations are not merely historic but aimed at some people still at the club, while he would also like to understand which have been upheld.
"I don't really know what to say anymore. To try and tone racism down to 'inappropriate behaviour', I find it really difficult to understand what they're actually thinking they're doing," Rafiq told Sky Sports News.
"It hurts, it seriously hurts. I think at the end of it, there's some sort of apology, but I think it gets spoiled by the words that are used to try and minimise what actually my allegations were.
"I'd love to know which one of my allegations have not been upheld as well. I'm very comfortable, as I've said from day one, I've got a lot of proof to back the stuff up that I'm saying. From my point of view, I wouldn't think twice to make sure people see that proof, because I'm not having a statement that turns my sufferings of over a decade into 'inappropriate behaviour'.
"There's a narrative in there to try and put across to people that most of them are historic, but that's not true and I want to make that very clear.
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"Most of my allegations are about people who are currently at the club in leadership positions. To try and say these are historic from a long time ago, yes some things span back towards the start of my career, but the majority of them are about the people that are still there - in my second spell at the club."
Rafiq said he did not expect full "transparency", but called for "accountability" and a number of people to leave their roles at Yorkshire.
"To do a statement and not give a report, clearly they're trying to buy some more time, delay it in whatever way they're trying to delay it," he said.
"But I've got a message for them: it isn't going away, I'm not going away.
"I've toughened up a lot through this 12-month process, but I feel like why should I continuously give these guys an opportunity when all they're intent on doing is protect people and make me out to be the problem."
He added: "I've got some of the excuses that they've been using for some of the delays and they're just laughable.
"If they really want to deal with this properly, the first point now is accountability. The chief executive, the director of cricket, the inclusivity and diversity manager whose front room I sat in and cried my eyes out - I think they need to go, it's as simple as that.
"The patience has gone. I'm not going to put myself through any more mental turmoil. It's time for this to be dealt with properly. If not, that's fine, I know what I went through. I've got the stuff I've got to prove that, I can put it in the public domain and let people work it out for themselves. No problem with that either."
Sky Sports News contacted Yorkshire for a response but the club made no further statement following Rafiq's comments.
