Yorkshire CCC’s unanswered questions over racism storm – Yorkshire Post Letters

From: David Rimington, Fairways Drive, Harrogate.

THERE are some unanswered questions in the stories published in the media in which Azeem Rafiq accused Yorkshire County Cricket Club of being institutionally racist. To be fair to both parties, these need to be answered.

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One is “Did Yorkshire CCC have in place a system in which employees could make a formal complaint to the management?” We have employment legislation in the UK, and most organisations have taken note of this and have a code of practice.

Yorkshire CCC remains in crisis over the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal.Yorkshire CCC remains in crisis over the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal.
Yorkshire CCC remains in crisis over the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal.

Employees with a grievance have the opportunity to make this known to the management of the company.

Did Azeem Rafiq make his complaint known to the Yorkshire CCC management, and if so when? When was the Yorkshire CCC management made aware of Azeem Rafiq’s complaints of racism?

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Azeem Rafiq was born in Pakistan, and moved to the UK in 2001 as a 10-year-old. He developed into an excellent cricketer through the Yorkshire academy. He was with the club from about 2005 to 2014. Was it in these years that the club was institutionally racist?

Yorkshire CCC remains in crisis over the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal.Yorkshire CCC remains in crisis over the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal.
Yorkshire CCC remains in crisis over the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal.

He was injured in 2014, and left the club. Yorkshire welcomed him back in 2016, and he stayed until 2018. Does all this sound like a club that is institutionally racist?

Why would Azeem Rafiq want to spend all those years with Yorkshire if the club was racist? And why would he want to return to a racist club?

The Yorkshire management should make it clear when Azeem Rafiq made his complaint, and what action they took. We need to know the answers.

From: Steve Wilson, Idle, Bradford.

Yorkshire CCC remains in crisis over the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal.Yorkshire CCC remains in crisis over the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal.
Yorkshire CCC remains in crisis over the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal.
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CRICKET is the game that gave us the phrase “its’s just not cricket”. It demonstrated this on all fronts this week. For Tom Harrison, CEO of the ECB, to admit on the Today programme that he had not even read the YCCC report puts him in the dock with the entire management of YCCC.

YCCC chair Roger Hutton’s outgoing statement smacked of self-preservation whilst the appointment of Lord Patel is patently ridiculous – this is the man who was the ECB stooge to front its woefully divisive South Asian strategy that aims to pump millions into the game based purely on ethnicity. I thought we were trying to stamp out racism and the favouring of one group over another?

The game is run by self-interest from top to bottom; from the money-obsessed buffoons that have ruined the summer schedule so the BBC can broadcast The Hundred to local leagues caught in a time warp, unable to see why their customer base is shrinking year by year.

From: Mike Smethurst, Rotherham.

THE investigations into racist abuse within Yorkshire County Cricket Club will run for some time and anyone guilty of such behaviour deserves what they get.

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I abhor any form of racism as all people should be considered equal, irrespective of race, creed or colour. One question will relate to what constitutes a racist comment and what is “friendly banter”.

From: Andrew Mercer, Guiseley.

READING about the views of Michael Holding (The Yorkshire Post, November 9), Yorkshire CCC would be advised to employ the West Indies legendary bowler as a consultant to advise on diversity policy.

Now he no longer commentates for Sky Sports, people of his stature must not be lost to the game.

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