Racist taunts started early in career at Yorkshire
Azeem Rafiq told the digital, culture, media and sport select committee that from early on at Yorkshire he was subject to personal racist abuse. He reported to the MPs on the committee that “there was a lot of ‘you lot sit over there near the toilets’, the word Paki was used constantly, no one ever stamped it out”. He said: “All I wanted to do was play cricket. Towards the end of my first spell but constantly throughout I knew there was something wrong. I started taking medication for my mental health. It was really tough.”
‘Toxic’ atmosphere under Ballance
Rafiq said matters got much worse during his second spell with the county. In front of the committee he accused Ballance, now captain, of coming over and saying to others: “Why are you talking to him [Rafiq], he’s not a sheikh, he hasn’t got oil.” Rafiq said his captain’s behaviour was “disgusting” and the atmosphere under him became “toxic”. He stated that everyone saw what was going on but “no one did anything about it”. Asked by the committee chairman, Julian Knight, about the term “Kevin”, Rafiq said it was an offensive, racist one that reached the very top of the game. “‘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,” he claimed. “Anyone who came across Gary would know that was a phrase he would use to describe people of colour.”
In his witness statement to an employment tribunal, Rafiq said: “The constant racist banter from Gary became too much. He would constantly talk down to me and make racist jokes, designed to undermine me and make me feel small, like coming up and interrupting when I was talking to girls in a club, saying ‘don’t talk to him, he’s a Paki’. I did my best to try to fit in, but it happened so much that at one point in 2012, I remember crying outside a nightclub after his constant racist taunting.”
In the statement Rafiq also alleged that Ballance had drugs and alcohol issues that were covered up by Yorkshire via missed tests. Ballance denies the drugs allegations. He did not comment on the select committee allegations.
Finger pointed at Gale
The former Yorkshire player said of the period after Jason Gillespie left: “Andrew Gale came in as coach, Gary Ballance as captain, and the temperature changed. I felt isolated.” In the statement to the tribunal, Rafiq accused Gale of “bullying” when he took over the leadership role. “Andrew joined in with Gary and others in the racist banter. Throughout my time at YCCC, Andrew called me ‘Raffa the Kaffir’, ‘Paki’ and so on. But it was the discriminatory treatment and bullying I felt from him that was harder for me than the name calling. There were numerous incidents where I felt that Andrew was aggressive and rude towards me in ways he wasn’t with white players.”
Moxon called on to apologise for his treatment
Rafiq alleged that Martyn Moxon, now Yorkshire’s director of cricket, “tore a strip” off him when he returned after the loss of his child. He told the committee he had never seen him talk to anyone like that before and called on him to apologise for his behaviour. Rafiq described his treatment by the club as “inhuman” after the stillbirth of his son. In his witness statement he claimed: “Throughout 2017 and 2018 I struggled as a result of the bullying, targeting and racism I faced – to the point that, again, I had suicidal thoughts. Despite my disclosure to Martyn about this in August 2017, nothing was done. Soon after, I faced accusations of ‘faking injuries’ and ‘ruling myself out’ of selection by teammates, which meant that senior management (i.e. Martyn and others) were openly discussing my confidential medical records and their assessments of them.”
Alex Hales and the ‘Kevin’ comments
Rafiq alleged the former England batter Alex Hales was involved in the “Kevin” abuse in the England camp. He said: “Gary and Alex got really close to each other when they played for England together. I wasn’t present in that dressing room but what I understand [is] that Alex went on to name his dog ‘Kevin’ because it was black. It’s disgusting how much of a joke it was.”
Tim Bresnan complaint
Bresnan was vice‑captain after Jason Gillespie left the club. Rafiq alluded to making a complaint against Bresnan to the select committee but had gone into further detail in his tribunal statement. He claimed that: “Tim would tag along and join in with Andrew’s racist comments and they bounced off each other in terms of the bullying. As with Andrew, Tim frequently made racist comments and was unduly harsh towards me compared to white British players, which became so unbearable that I made a formal complaint against him in 2017.” Through Warwickshire CCC, Bresnan responded to Rafiq’s comments to the select committee, saying: “I have been made aware of the bullying claims made against me and have listened to Azeem Rafiq’s account of his time at Yorkshire CCC today with great distress, as I’m sure everyone will have done. For any part I played in contributing to Azeem Rafiq’s experience of feeling bullied at Yorkshire, I apologise unreservedly.”
Matthew Hoggard and YCCC’s culture issue
To the committee Rafiq mentioned Hoggard in respect of him having been the one player who phoned him to apologise after his Sky Sports interview in which Rafiq outlined how he felt at Yorkshire. “The morning after my Sky interview, I took a call from Matthew Hoggard,” said the former England Under-19 captain. “He said, ‘I didn’t realise. I’m really sorry the way some of my comments made you feel. I just wanted to apologise for what I said.’ I said, ‘Wow, thank you.’ All I ever wanted was an apology.” In his witness statement, Rafiq had described how it was Hoggard who first called him “Raffa the Kaffir”. “I genuinely liked Hoggy, but I think he was a product of the discriminatory culture he was in and the culture that was allowed to thrive at YCCC. It was Hoggy who started calling me ‘Raffa the Kaffir’ … The comments from Hoggy towards myself and the other Asian players – Adil, Ajmal and Rana – were constant, on a daily basis, and all day, every day. I think he might have thought it was just dressing‑room banter but we would come in in the morning and he would say things like ‘you lot sit over there’ and make us all sit together. He would also call us things like ‘elephant washers’.”
Jack Brooks and the ‘Steve’ label attached to Pujara
To the committee, Rafiq highlighted how Cheteshwar Pujara was called “Steve” at the county as a joke rather than pronounce his first name properly. “Jack Brooks I think started it where he didn’t feel the need to call Pujara by his first name. Not only Jack, [but] the coaches, the media, the Yorkshire website – everyone called him that.”
Wine poured down throat by other players
Rafiq, who is Muslim, said he started drinking “to fit in” at Yorkshire, something he has “come to regret”. When asked by Knight if he was ever forced to drink under the age of 18, Rafiq said he was pinned down while a player for his local cricket club in his mid‑teens and had red wine poured down his throat. He said someone who played for Yorkshire and Hampshire was involved. In his witness statement to the employment tribunal, Rafiq added: “At YCCC, it was never forced, but there was an entrenched drinking culture which had the effect of isolating Muslim Asian players: if you didn’t drink, you didn’t fit in.”
David Lloyd called out for briefing against player
Rafiq claimed the former England coach and current Sky cricket pundit David Lloyd had briefed others about his drinking. Of Lloyd, Rafiq said: “He’d been an England coach and commentator and I found it disturbing, because Sky is supposedly doing this amazing work on bringing racism to the front and within a week of me speaking out, that’s what I got sent to me and I thought: ‘God, there are some closet racists and I need to do something about it.’” Lloyd issued a statement on Tuesday afternoon apologising to Rafiq. “In October 2020 I had a private message exchange with a third party involved in cricket, about a number of topics,” said Lloyd. “In these messages I referred to allegations about Azeem Rafiq which I had heard from within the game. I also made some comments about the Asian cricket community. I deeply regret my actions, and I apologise most sincerely to Azeem and to the Asian cricket community for doing this, and for any offence caused.”
Root under fire for denials of witnessing racism at county
Rafiq said he found it “hurtful” that the England captain Joe Root said he had never witnessed anything of a racist nature at Yorkshire. “Rooty is a good man. He never engaged in racist language,” Rafiq added. “I found it hurtful because Rooty was Gary [Ballance]’s housemate and had been involved in a lot of the socialising where I was called a ‘Paki’. It shows how normal it was that even a good man like him doesn’t see it for what it was. It’s not going to affect Joe but it’s something I remember every day.”
Vaughan questioned over denials of racist language
Asked about Michael Vaughan, who has denied telling Asian teammates at Yorkshire “there’s too many of you lot, we need to do something about it”, Rafiq said: “Michael might not remember it … three of us, Adil [Rashid], myself and Rana [Naved‑ul-Hasan] remember it. He used his platform at the Daily Telegraph to tell everyone he hadn’t said these things. To go on and put a snippet of my statement out and talk about other things, I thought was completely wrong. He probably doesn’t remember it because it doesn’t mean anything to him.”
ECB and PCA ‘did nothing’ to help player
Rafiq says he begged the England and Wales Cricket Board and the Professional Cricketers’ Association to step in, but that neither of the organisations wanted to. Rafiq says he had dark moments over the winter and at one point the PCA reported him missing. He said he doesn’t think that was done out of concern for his mental health but that it “wanted to tick a box just in case I killed myself”.
Rafiq does not want son ‘anywhere near game’
Rafiq said that, as a result of his experiences: “I can’t imagine a parent, hearing me speak today, would want their child to go anywhere near cricket. I don’t want my son to go anywhere near the game. As a parent, I’d say keep an eye on your kids because this is reality. I would not let my kid go there and just leave them in the hands of these people.”