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Michael Atherton
Cricket expert and columnist
Azeem Rafiq’s allegations of institutional racism in Yorkshire first surfaced in September 2020; Yorkshire began investigating, but it wasn’t until August 2021 that they apologized to Rafiq; Following further parliamentary and ECB inquiries, the county and seven individuals were recently indicted
Last updated: 06/23/22 02:00 p.m
Headingley are hosting their first international since the racism scandal that engulfed Yorkshire CCC. Sky Sports’ Michael Atherton called the events a lesson in not handling a crisis and warned it was not over yet
The Yorkshire racism scandal, recently exposed by Azeem Rafiq, has shown a lack of leadership both in the county itself and within the England and Wales Cricket Board, according to Sky Sports pundit and former England captain Michael Atherton.
Rafiq’s allegations of institutional racism at Headingley first surfaced in September 2020 when the former Yorkshire player said in an interview with ESPNcricinfo This “ingrained” racism in the county left him “close to committing suicide.”
Yorkshire quickly launched an investigation, but it was not until August 2021 that they issued a “profound apology” to Rafiq after explaining that their report on his allegations found that he was “the victim of inappropriate conduct” which they described as “clearly unacceptable.” “ designated. .
The ECB has charged “a number of people” in connection with racism allegations at Yorkshire County Cricket Club, without specifying who those people are. Yorkshire has also been charged with breaking anti-racism rules.
However, the county did not accept its allegations of institutional racism, stating that “many of the allegations were uncorroborated and for others there was insufficient evidence for the panel to make a decision.”
Rafiq accused Yorkshire of “falsifying” his claims and vowing he would “not walk away”, and after another parliamentary inquiry and then an ECB inquiry, the county and seven people were only recently charged by the latter.
However, Atherton says this whole episode was an example of how not to deal with such matters.
What this really shows is that the game needs better leadership, the leadership from Yorkshire and the ECB wasn’t good enough. Better leadership is needed
Michael Atherton
“It’s been a very disturbing story over the past year that has almost brought this great club to its knees and perhaps will,” said Atherton Sky Sports. “It’s not over yet, there’s a lot more to come and we’ll see how that plays out over the next few months.
“I think we can say a couple of things without fear of contradiction – one of which is how poorly Yorkshire have handled this situation since Azeem Rafiq made his claims against the club, to the recent layoff of 15 or 16 staff here . It was a real test case of how not to deal with crises, the club handled it horribly.
“The second thing to say is that we have seen the lack of due process on an issue of this importance. In response to Azeem Rafiq’s claims, Yorkshire conducted an internal investigation, the scope of which appeared to be limited, they appeared unable to compel people to come and make statements or testimonies, they released the findings of those findings not, and when Kamlesh Patel, the new chairman, walked in he said the inquiry was deeply flawed.
James Cole says Tom Harrison’s legacy as ECB chief executive has been marred by the organization’s handling of the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal.
“Then we had the parliamentary hearings which seemed pre-empted by the MPs involved and then we had the ECB inquiry recently which, much like Yorkshire, there isn’t much transparency, also for good reasons.
“But the scope is limited, we don’t know who they spoke to. We know a lot of people they haven’t spoken to who were central to this case and they recently charged seven people and then those hearings will be in September.”
However, Atherton hopes the crisis will soon be over for Rafiq and everyone involved.
“It will always go on and I doubt we will see any conclusion here. For all those involved, both for Azeem Rafiq who made the claims against the club and for those he’s making the claims against, I hope there’s a closure at some point,” he added.
Yorkshire Cricket Club is looking to rebuild after years of ex-player Azeem Rafiq accusing the club of racism. Sky Sports News’ Rob Jones looks at the challenges facing the county.
But the key lesson from the whole scandal is that the game itself, according to Atherton, requires stronger leadership at both the county and national levels going forward.
“It really goes to show the game needs better leadership, the leadership from Yorkshire and the ECB wasn’t good enough.
“Better leadership is needed because when you think of this great club, Yorkshire has more cricket clubs than the whole of Australia. Just consider the demographics in the regions of this stadium [Headingley]Bradford and Leeds really should be the beacon of what cricket can be in this country,” said Atherton.
“And let’s hope this club can rise again…”