On Tuesday in Westminster, Azeem Rafiq delivered a powerful, emotional testimony to the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee, where he spoke about the inhuman treatment he had to endure at Yorkshire County Cricket Club during his two stints.
Rafiq revealed that the Asian players were called “elephant washers” and were told to sit by the toilet in the dressing room. He also spoke about an incident at the age of 15, when a group of older players poured wine down his throat.
Some of his most damning revelations were centred around Gary Balance, a current player and former captain of Rafiq at Yorkshire, who earlier admitted the use of slur “P**i” and expressed his regret after being implicated in the report.
On Tuesday, Rafiq further revealed that Ballance’s use of derogatory term “Kevin” to describe non-white players became so common that his former England teammate Alex Hales named his dog after it.
Rafiq revealed that Ballance often used the term “Raffa the Kaffir“, first coined by former England pacer Matthew Hoggard – for which he subsequently apologised through a phone call after Rafiq had spoken about it publically.
Ballance also made other humiliating, racist comments such as “don’t talk to him, he’s a P**i“, “he is not a Sheikh, he has no oil” and “is that your uncle there?” upon seeing men with beards while on the team bus.
In his allegations of institutional racism, Rafiq’s witness statement put light on the harsh treatment he received in disciplinary matters compared to Ballance. He revealed that Yorkshire covered up Ballance’s issues with recreational drug use.
“Over the years, YCCC protected Gary Ballance with respect to his drug and alcohol issues, allowing him to miss drug hair sample tests to avoid sanctions. When he failed a recreational drug test and was forced to miss some games, the club informed the public he was missing games because he was struggling with anxiety and mental health issues.”
Rafiq compared that to the treatment he received in 2010, when he was sent home from England Under-19 squad due to his involvement in a hotel incident. Rafiq was subsequently banned for a month after his outburst against the management on social media.
“I had been out with the whole team one night. The next day, John Abraham and Andy Burril, the coach and manager, sent me home without any investigation into the incident. I was completely innocent, but the club did nothing to defend me or look into the matter, and just presumed that I was in the wrong,”
he added.
Rafiq also mentioned Andrew Gale, the former captain and current head coach, whom the club defended even after an ECB ban for using racial language in an altercation with Ashwell Prince – Lancashire’s South African player.
He also contrasted his treatment with Tom Kohler-Cadmore, against whom the club took no further action when he was dropped from an England Lions tour after being implicated in a former team-mate’s rape trial. Rafiq believed that all these cases were far more severe but since the white players were involved, they were covered up.
