On Tuesday Rafiq is expected to outline his experiences of racism at Yorkshire, protected by parliamentary privilege
In 2020 Azeem Rafiq went public with allegations of the racism he says he experienced while a player at Yorkshire during two spells from 2008 to 2014 and 2016 to 2018. This prompted a 12-month investigation by the club, with a summary of the resulting report released in September upholding seven of Rafiq’s 43 claims and confirming he was the victim of “racial harassment” in his first spell and bullying during the second. Despite a conclusion that the club failed to properly escalate his initial complaints in 2018 as per its own policies, the club announced on 28 October that no action would be taken against any current employee. This, plus a leaked element of the still unpublished report that showed the panel considered the use of the P-word towards Rafiq to be “in the spirit of friendly banter”, prompted a raft of MPs to voice their displeasure earlier this month and saw Julian Knight, chair of the digital, culture, media and sport select committee, set up Tuesday’s hearing to get to the bottom of the issue.
Written by Ali Martin
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/nov/15/what-will-happen-azeem-rafiq-dcms-select-committee-yorkshire-ccc-cricket under the title “What will happen at Azeem Rafiq’s DCMS select committee hearing?”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
