The former Yorkshire all-rounder, Azeem Rafiq has accused his Yorkshire players and various boards of being racist. The 57-page document, published in the wake of Azeem Rafiq’s explosive appearance before the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, lays bare the 30-year-old’s allegations against players like Michael Vaughan, Gary Ballance, Matthew Hoggard, and Tim Bresnan.
Here is the full list of players accused of racism and what they have said about the allegations in response.
1. Michael Vaughan (Former England captain and Yorkshire batter)
Vaughan revealed earlier this month that former Yorkshire cricketer Azeem Rafiq had accused him of racism during a county match against Nottinghamshire in 2009. But the former captain has since denied saying “anything racist in my life”.
However, Rafiq has accused Vaughan of saying, “He may not remember it because it doesn’t mean anything to him, but three of the four Asian players he mentioned do remember it. He then used his platform (newspaper column) to discredit me. He seems to have taken the same stance as the club – deny, deny, deny.”
2. Gary Ballance (England and Yorkshire batter)
Azeem Rafiq alleged that Gary Ballance referred to him as ‘p***’ on multiple occasions.
“Gary would regularly make belittling or derogatory comments about my Pakistani heritage like ‘don’t talk to him, he’s a P***’. Or ‘Why are you talking to him, he’s a P***?’ It became unbearable. This happened in front of teammates. It happened in front of the coaching staff.”
3. David Llyod (Former England player, coach, and broadcaster)
Speaking about Lloyd, Azeem Rafiq said: “He’d been an England coach and commentator and I found it disturbing because Sky is supposedly doing this amazing work on bringing racism to the front and, within a week of me speaking out, that’s what I got sent to me and I thought ‘there are some closet racists and I need to do something about it.”
Lloyd has accepted the claim and has tendered an apology over the same. Regretting his actions, the cricket expert said in a statement:
“In October 2020, I had a private message exchange with a third party involved in cricket, about a number of topics. In these messages, I referred to allegations about Azeem Rafiq which I had heard from within the game. I also made some comments about the Asian cricket community. I deeply regret my actions, and I apologize most sincerely to Azeem and to the Asian cricket community for doing this, and for any offense caused.”
4. Joe Root (England Test captain and Yorkshire batter)
Rafiq described current England Test captain Joe Root as a “good man”. However, he stated the England test captain’s statement in which he claimed that he never heard anyone making racist comments at Yorkshire.
“Joe Root is a good man. He never engaged in any racist language. But Rooty was Ballance’s flatmate and was involved in those social nights out where I was called a ‘P***’. He might not remember but it shows how normal it was that even a good man like him doesn’t see it for what it is.”
5. Tim Bresnan (Former Yorkshire and England all-rounder)
Rafiq said that Tim Bresnan was a regular at passing racist remarks. While Bresnan has apologized to the former off-spinner, he has denied claims of being a racist. His statement read:
“For any part, I played in contributing to Azeem Rafiq’s experience of feeling bullied at Yorkshire, I apologize unreservedly. Following the publication of Azeem’s witness statement from the employment tribunal, which I saw for the first time this afternoon, I must though categorically deny his accusation that I ‘frequently made racist comments.”