Racism in English cricket recounted by Rafiq at parliament

Giving testimony in tears, former cricketer Azeem Rafiq informed a British parliamentary listening to on Tuesday that he was humiliated by the racist abuse and bullying he suffered at England’s most profitable cricket membership.
Rafiq mentioned Yorkshire teammates used an offensive time period referencing his Pakistani heritage, and the management on the 33-time winners of the English county championship didn’t act on the racism.
“Pretty early on, me and other people from an Asian background,” Rafiq informed a House of Commons choose committee overseeing sport, “there were comments such as, ‘You lot sit there near the toilets,’ ‘Elephant washers.’ The word P*** was used constantly. And there just seemed to be an acceptance in the institution from the leaders and no one stamped it out.”

Azeem Rafiq tells MPs in regards to the names and racial slurs used within the Yorkshire and England dressing rooms…
(Warning: video accommodates offensive and upsetting content material)
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) November 16, 2021
Rafiq, a former England Under-19 captain, mentioned he felt “isolated, humiliated at times” by his therapy at Yorkshire throughout two spells taking part in for the membership from 2008 to 2018.
The England and Wales Cricket Board has suspended Yorkshire from internet hosting worldwide matches over its “wholly unacceptable” response to the racism confronted by Rafiq.

“I got pinned down and red wine was poured down my throat.”
Azeem Rafiq tells a DCMS Select Committee that he began consuming alcohol ’round 2012′ in an try to slot in at Yorkshire.
(Warning: video accommodates content material that viewers might discover distressing)
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) November 16, 2021
Yorkshire mentioned final month that it will not take any disciplinary motion towards any of its staff, gamers or executives regardless of a report that discovered Rafiq was the sufferer of racial harassment and bullying.
Rafiq informed legislators he was being talked about as a captain of Yorkshire earlier than reporting his issues in 2017. Then Rafiq mentioned board minutes mentioned he was “a problem, a troublemaker and an issue that needs to be resolved.”
That adopted a 2017 preseason tour when Rafiq mentioned he suffered abuse from a teammate in entrance of others.
“Gary Ballance walks over and goes, ‘Why are you talking to him? You know he’s a P***.’ Or, ‘He’s not a sheikh, he’s got no oil,’” Rafiq recalled.
Two weeks in the past, Ballance, a former England cricketer, admitted to utilizing a racial slur towards Rafiq after they had been teammates at Yorkshire, however mentioned “this was a situation where best friends said offensive things to each other which, outside of that context, would be considered wholly inappropriate.”
A proper investigation was commissioned by Yorkshire in September 2020 into 43 allegations made by Rafiq, with seven of them upheld in a report launched solely in September below strain from the lawmakers staging the listening to on Tuesday.
At one level the committee needed to break for a number of minutes after Rafiq grappled with the feelings of recounting painful experiences.

The Pakistan-born Rafiq, who’s Muslim, described his distressing first expertise of alcohol on the age of 15 after being requested about his consuming.
“I got pinned down at my local cricket club and had red wine poured down my throat, literally down my throat,” the 30-year-old Rafiq mentioned. “The participant performed for Yorkshire and Hampshire. I (then) didn’t contact alcohol till about 2012 and round that point I felt I had to try this to slot in.

Azeem Rafiq says the racism he skilled at Yorkshire made him really feel ‘remoted’ and ‘humiliated’.
(Warning: video accommodates offensive language and content material that viewers might discover upsetting)
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) November 16, 2021
“I wasn’t perfect. There are things I did which I felt I had to do to achieve my dreams. I deeply regret that but it has nothing to do with racism. When I spoke I should have been listened to. The game as a whole has a problem, with listening to the victim. There is no ‘yeah, but’ with racism; there is no ‘two sides’ to racism.”
The chairman and chief govt of Yorkshire resigned this month.