Racism in cricket: Yorkshire Club punished over scandal

Yorkshire County Cricket Club has docked 48 points in the English County Championship after confessing to racism charges in connection with the Azeem Rafiq racism affair. The independent Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) also fined the club £400,000 ($514,000), with £300,000 suspended for two years. Yorkshire has been relegated to County Championship Division Two as a result of the points penalty. 

Rafiq, a Pakistan-born bowler, went public in September 2020 with allegations of racism and abuse during his two stints with the English county.

Yorkshire’s board of directors acknowledged the sanctions in a statement.

Yorkshire’s statement

The statement from Yorkshire County Cricket Club mentioned accepting the sanctions and said, “The CDC and ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) have today acknowledged the vast amount of work done by YCCC to overcome the cultural issues that existed within the club, which allowed racist and discriminatory behaviour to go unchallenged. We are accountable for these issues, and we accepted four amended charges as part of a continued commitment to ensure we are able to move forward.”

Yorkshire County Cricket Club voiced dissatisfaction with the point deduction punishment. The statement about the point deduction penalty said, “We are disappointed to receive the point deductions which affects players and staff at the club, who were not responsible for the situation.”

Richard Gould, ECB Chief Executive’s statement

Richard Gould, the current ECB Chief Executive, also addressed the racism incident. Notably, at the time of the incident, Gould was not the CEO. The statement by Gould said, “There can be no place for racism in our game, and the penalties announced by the Cricket Discipline Commission mark the end of a thorough disciplinary process. No one should have to experience what Azeem Rafiq went through in cricket, and we once again thank him for his courage in speaking out.”

Rishi Sunak on racism and sexism

Before the ECB imposed the final fines against Yorkshire County, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke out about the pervasive racism and sexism in cricket. Sunak stated that he had spoken with some ECB officials and believed they were committed to resolving the issue. During the second Ashes test match between Australia and England at Lord’s, he spoke on BBC Radio. He said, “I have spent a little bit of the morning talking to the team at the ECB and I think they have approached it in exactly the right way.”

The CDC has already fined six former Yorkshire players for making racist statements. Separately, the English cricket community was plagued by “widespread” racism, misogyny and classism, according to a damning report published last month by the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC). The ICEC was established in 2021 as a result of the incident involving Rafiq’s treatment that involved race.

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