Azeem Rafiq amongst 5 former & current players reprimanded by CDC for non-recent social media posts

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Azeem Rafiq amongst 5 former & current players reprimanded by CDC for non-recent social media posts

The Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) has today published its decisions in relation to charges brought by the ECB against five former and current professional cricketers related to non-recent social media posts.

Each of Jack Brooks, Andrew Gale, Evelyn Jones, Azeem Rafiq and Danielle Wyatt admitted their breach of ECB Directive 3.3 which states: “No such person may conduct themself in a manner or do any act or omission which may be prejudicial to the interests of cricket or which may bring the game of cricket or any Cricketer or group of Cricketers into disrepute.’’

Jack Brooks, Evelyn Jones and Danielle Wyatt also admitted a breach of ECB Directive 3.4, which states “Each Participant is bound by and must comply with the ECB Anti-Discrimination Code”.

ECB

 

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Azeem Rafique

 

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Azeem Rafiq and Andrew Gale are among five current and former players reprimanded by the England and Wales Cricket Board for historical social media posts of a racist nature.

Rafiq had previously apologised for a Facebook exchange from 2011 containing anti-Semitic messages.

Former coach Gale was suspended by Yorkshire for a tweet from 2010.

England batter Danni Wyatt, Somerset's Jack Brooks and Birmingham Phoenix's Eve Jones have also been reprimanded.

All five admitted to the posts.

Allegations made by former Yorkshire spinner Rafiq, 31, sparked the racism scandal that has dogged English cricket for much of the past two years.

His Facebook messages came to light in November 2021, at which time he said he had "absolutely no excuses".

Following the claims made by Rafiq, Gale was one of 16 people to have their employment terminated by Yorkshire in December.

He had been suspended for the tweet in question the previous month. At the time he said he was "completely unaware" of the offensive nature of the term used and deleted the tweet as soon as he was made aware.

Gale, 38, is facing further charges from the ECB, but has said he will "not engage" with the disciplinary process.

Somerset fast bowler Jack Brooks, also 38, was found to have used a racially offensive term in two tweets that were deleted in November last year after being highlighted in a newspaper report.

Wyatt, 31, and 30-year-old Jones posed together with black make-up on their faces in a picture that was posted on Instagram in 2013 and deleted in April 2021 after a complaint from a member of the public.


'More difficult times ahead'
Analysis by BBC Sport chief cricket writer Stephan Shemilt

This is the latest episode in the racism scandal that has torn English cricket apart and is far from over.

While the indiscretions of Rafiq, Gale and Brooks were already in the public domain, the offences of Wyatt and Jones are new revelations.

In the case of Jones, the ECB have acknowledged that it came before she was a professional cricketer.

There are more difficult times ahead, too. Former Yorkshire physio Wayne Morton, one of the 16 let go by the club, is taking his case to the High Court, while charges laid by the ECB against Yorkshire, Gale and other individuals are due to be heard before the end of the year.

The Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket is also currently writing a report based on the collection of thousands of pieces of evidence. The ECB has acknowledged the report is likely to make for uncomfortable reading.

BBC

 

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Statement from Azeem Rafiq:

 

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Former Yorkshire bowler Azeem Rafiq says new allegations of antisemitism, homophobia and fat-shaming are part of a "co-ordinated campaign of lies" to discredit him.

Rafiq was found to have been the victim of racial harassment and bullying while at Yorkshire by an investigation commissioned by the club.

A number of individuals have been charged by the England and Wales Cricket Board over racism allegations made by Rafiq, while Yorkshire have been charged over their handling of those allegations. The matter is now in the hands of the Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC).

The Daily Mail has reported new allegations against Rafiq, who it emerged this week had been reprimanded by the CDC over an antisemitic social media post from 2011.

The Mail reported claims that Rafiq repeatedly referred to a former county second XI team-mate as a Jew, made a homophobic comment towards an opposition player in 2009 and had forced overweight children to play without shirts on during a training session in 2015, and then referred to them as "fat b*******".

Rafiq said: "These allegations are categorically untrue. I knew as a whistleblower I would come under attack.

"What I did not expect was a never-ending, co-ordinated campaign of lies, which has caused serious risk to me and my family's safety.

"I have been vindicated over and over again, and will not be intimidated by those who seek to silence me."

The 31-year-old has told The Cricketer he intends to move abroad because he fears for his family's safety.

Rafiq has repeatedly called for CDC hearings examining the racism allegations he made and Yorkshire's handling of them to be held in public, and there is understood to be growing confidence that at least the latter part of the process will be public.

Yorkshire are understood to favour a public hearing, and the ECB has taken a neutral stance on the matter.

Rafiq gave powerful testimony to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport parliamentary committee last November about his experience of abuse and bullying at Yorkshire, and he is set to appear before the same committee later this year.

December 13 has been pencilled in for him to appear alongside Yorkshire chair Lord Patel.

https://www.skysports.com/cricket/n...-homophobia-are-co-ordinated-campaign-of-lies

 

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Azeem Rafiq said in a statement:

"Charges against seven of the eight defendants, including the widespread use of the 'P' word, have been upheld by the CDC today. This comes in addition to the other reports, panels and inquiries that found I and others suffered racial harassment and bullying while at Yorkshire.

"The issue has never been about individuals but the game as a whole. Cricket needs to understand the extent of its problems and address them. Hopefully, the structures of the game can now be rebuilt and institutionalised racism ended for good. It's time to reflect, learn and implement change."

https://www.skysports.com/cricket/n...om-cricket-discipline-commission-are-released

 

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Azeem Rafiq says he feels "vindicated" and has "closure" after a hearing into his allegations of racism at Yorkshire delivered its verdict.

A Cricket Discipline Commission panel found charges had been proved against five former players of bringing the game into disrepute through their use of racist and/or discriminatory language.

However, ex-England captain Michael Vaughan was cleared "on the balance of probabilities" of using racist language towards his former team-mate Rafiq.

Yorkshire previously accepted four amended charges while former England batter Gary Ballance also previously admitted the charge against him.

"I feel vindicated," Rafiq told BBC sports editor Dan Roan.

"Seven out of the eight charges have been upheld and, most importantly, one of the main reasons I spoke out was to highlight the wider problems across the game and the institutional racism at YCCC.

"I think that's been proven over and over again."

He added: "I've been pushed way more than I can handle throughout the last two and a half years. It's been difficult in a lot of ways, but the hearing was closure for me."

Former Yorkshire bowler Rafiq first made claims of historical racism at Headingley in August 2020, later calling English cricket "institutionally racist".

https://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/65139617

 

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Nasser Hussain says he is "beyond belief" at the "poorly" handled investigation in relation to allegations of racism at Yorkshire brought by Azeem Rafiq.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan had a charge of racism brought against him by the ECB 'not proved' as the verdicts from the Cricket Disciplinary Commission's hearing were released on Friday.

Charges were brought against Vaughan and six other ex-Yorkshire players, as well as the club itself, following allegations made by former bowler Rafiq.

The CDC found that Rafiq and team-mate Adil Rashid - who gave evidence - were "not lying" but mistaken in claiming they heard Vaughan call them 'you lot'. The panel pointed to inconsistencies in their evidence.

Hussain described the publication of the findings as a "a very sad and bad day [for English cricket] in a long list of sad days on this subject".

He told Sky Sports News: "In years to come the process will be held up as the gold standard of how not to investigate an allegation of racism.

"I am sure Azeem Rafiq didn't want it to become about individuals. Beyond belief how you can get through an investigation so poorly and make it about individuals."

Hussain cautioned that despite the findings, there is still plenty to address to change the culture in English cricket, and it is "time to move forward" and learn from this period.

He said: "Words are incredibly important, and you don't learn and move on unless you move back. A lot of the stuff that has happened detracts from the wider issues that the game needs to look at. They got the process badly wrong.

"I can only imagine the damage this must have done to various people on both side, and Azeem in particular. What he must have been through, it has been an incredible difficult period for him.

"All I can say is [I hope] that some good comes out of this, and we start to look at the real issues. Now is the time to educate and move forward."

SKY

 

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It is a revision of history, to put it mildly, for Azeem Rafiq now to claim that his quest to expose institutional racism in English cricket “has never been about individuals”. For if there is one distinguishing quality about this most scalding of episodes, it is its intensely personal nature, with Rafiq so implacable in his feud with Michael Vaughan, he went to every length to traduce him for an alleged 14-year-old remark that the Cricket Discipline Commission resolves, “on the balance of probabilities”, the former England captain did not say.

Not about individuals? Try telling that to Vaughan, who has spent the past 16 months, since first discovering that his name appeared in Rafiq’s report, watching his livelihood thrown into jeopardy and his reputation put through the mangle by unsubstantiated assertions and a shoddy England and Wales Cricket Board investigation. Rafiq, of course, has suffered grievously, too. He has had to pack up his home in Barnsley and move his family abroad, driven to deep mental anguish by the torrential abuse. But by sustaining his pursuit of Vaughan through to the bitterest of conclusions, he has arguably lost everything.

In the CDC verdict, the idea of Rafiq’s credibility as a narrator took a battering. Not only were there found to be “significant inconsistencies” in his evidence, the panel also identified “inaccuracy and unreliability” in his account of what happened at Trent Bridge on June 22, 2009. It was all a far cry from his day in front of the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s select committee in November 2021, when he was roundly applauded for his courage as a whistleblower. This time, his testimony in support of the infamous “you lot” allegation against Vaughan was dismissed as flimsy, incomplete and ultimately without merit.

Rafiq insists that he feels vindicated, highlighting how seven of the eight charges brought by the ECB against Yorkshire were upheld. The one that was rejected, however, could scarcely be more important. Vaughan, as Yorkshire's talisman at the time, was central to the entire case, the one player whom Rafiq admitted he idolised as a child and whose alleged comments on that midsummer’s day in Nottingham had, he said, cut him to the quick. Vaughan’s was the head the ECB wanted on a spike. If it could be shown that the symbol of the 2005 Ashes glory was implicated in a racist dressing-room culture at England’s largest county, the game would be left with little choice but to believe the accuser over the accused.

Except this affair has long since ceased to be about systemic racism. It all unravelled into an interminable battle of one man’s word against another’s, with the “you lot” remark so intrinsic to the CDC’s Fleet Street hearing that they spent hour after fruitless hour analysing Sky’s on-field footage trying - and failing - to establish what was said.

Racism, as Vaughan has indicated in his reflections on the psychological toll this has all taken, is perhaps the worst accusation you can level at anybody. Philip Roth dedicated a whole novel, The Human Stain, to demonstrating how even a blameless man could be ruined by the slur. It clings to the subjects like tar. So, if you are going to throw this particular flame-thrower, you had better have stronger supporting ammunition than one widely-disputed comment from 2009 that six Yorkshire players in the immediate vicinity argued they never even heard.

It was far from the only problem in Rafiq’s impugning of Vaughan’s integrity. It also did not help that Rafiq was no angel himself. Within days of the DCMS hearing, it emerged that Rafiq had used anti-Semitic messages in Facebook exchanges with another player in 2011, when he was 19. He apologised unreservedly, stating he had become a “different person”, even going so far as to meet a Holocaust survivor at Camden Jewish Museum. At the same time, a woman released texts to The Yorkshire Post that Rafiq had sent her in 2015, describing them as “creepy” and criticising him for his treatment of women.

Rafiq had unfulfilled potential as a cricketer. While an accomplished captain of Yorkshire’s T20 team, he never represented England at senior level, after being dropped from the Under-19s for breaking curfews during a series against Sri Lanka. That record of indiscipline would cost him, with some of his Yorkshire peer group, not least Joe Root and Gary Ballance, going on to be fixtures of the international Test side while he found himself frozen out.

As Vaughan has stressed, this process should never have been so adversarial. It should never have reached the point where he and Rafiq were facing off inside an oppressive London conference room, with silks engaged for exorbitant sums. Vaughan had tried to reach an out-of-court resolution once before, arranging a conversation at the Holiday Inn in Wakefield, a meeting at which Rafiq was happy enough to pose for a joint photograph. But it still could not derail the runaway train of claim and counter-claim, culminating in an 82-page CDC document exonerating Vaughan and painting Rafiq as a dubious narrator.

For all his protestations of victory, that is quite the indictment.

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Piers Morgan called Azeem Rafiq a "bottle job" who is "happy to destroy lives" as the duo became embroiled in an explosive social media spat about the Yorkshire racism hearing.

Rafiq had accused Michael Vaughan of saying "there's too many of you lot, we need to have a word about that" to him, Adil Rashid, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Ajmal Shahzad while at Yorkshire in 2009, and a charge was brought against the former England captain following an ECB investigation which started in October 2021.

But Vaughan was cleared of using racist language "on the balance of probabilities" on Friday following an eight-day Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) hearing earlier this month. The CDC panel's findings concluded that the ECB's case against Vaughan could not be proven.

Former Yorkshire players Matthew Hoggard, Tim Bresnan, Andrew Gale, Richard Pyrah and John Blain were all found liable of using racist and/or discriminatory language, but Morgan has taken exception with Rafiq for what he has alleged as a "smear campaign" against 48-year-old Vaughan.

Outspoken television presenter and avid cricket fan Morgan, who in January called for Vaughan to be reinstated as a pundit by the BBC, alleged on Twitter on Saturday that Rafiq "did all he could to destroy Michael Vaughan because he knew that would get him most media attention, and distract from his own anti-Semitic racism."

Rafiq was formally reprimanded by the ECB in October last year for "racist and discriminatory conduct" and accepted an ECB charge following a Facebook exchange in 2011 that contained anti-Semitic messages. He had previously apologised for his comments.

The 32-year-old told Morgan to "have a day off" in response to his tweet, but the presenter issued a strong retort: "You didn’t give Michael Vaughan a day off with your shameful smear campaign against him.

"He’s gone through hell for 18 months. You owe him a public apology." Morgan then appeared to invite Rafiq onto his TalkTV show, adding: "And if you’re ready for a proper interview, where you get quizzed about YOUR racism, let me know."

Rafiq rejected an interview, saying he has already spoken to "proper journalists" and accusing Morgan of "creating hate and inciting pile ons" with his rhetoric. But Morgan, 58, slammed the former bowler once more, replying: "From the anti-Semitic guy who orchestrated an 18-month racism pile-on against an English sporting hero, only to find nobody believed you."

And when Rafiq turned down another request for an interview, saying it would not 'change the facts', Morgan wrote: "As I thought, a bottle job. Happy to destroy lives, not happy to be held properly accountable for it, or for all your hypocrisy over racism."

Rafiq first made claims of historical racism at Yorkshire in August 2020 and has now told BBC Sport he feels "vindicated" and has "closure" from the conclusion of the hearing.

Vaughan, meanwhile, had always categorically denied the allegation made against him and told the Telegraph that he "burst out crying" when he learned the racism charge had been dismissed.

DT

 

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Azeem Rafiq says he has been "repeatedly" racially abused in the three days since verdicts were returned in the Yorkshire case.

The 32-year-old who first sparked cricket's biggest furore in 2020 says he has received new messages calling him "P---" and "'Rafa the Kaffir". He has reported one of the slurs to Twitter but says "I got an email this morning saying that it doesn't violate the rules".

Rafiq faced renewed vitriol after a Cricket Discipline Commission cleared Michael Vaughan of abusing him but found other team mates guilty.

"The level of abuse since Friday has felt like the two and a half years of it all put together in three days," he said in an interview with the PA news agency. "We're having the same conversations again and again and you know, it's just really sad."

An allegation made by Rafiq that Vaughan had told four Asian players "there are too many of you lot, we need to have a word about that" in 2009 was "not proved", the CDC ruled on Friday, in part due to "significant inconsistencies in the evidence" of both Rafiq and key witness Adil Rashid.

Five other individuals who played at Yorkshire, including former England players Matthew Hoggard and Tim Bresnan, were found to be partially guilty of using racist language. Blain and Bresnan appear set to appeal against the verdicts. Cleared Vaughan, meanwhile, had suggested he harboured no ill feeling towards Rafiq.

“The dismissal of the specific charge that concerned me takes nothing away from Azeem’s own lived experiences," he said in a statement. “It has been both difficult and upsetting to hear about the painful experiences which Azeem has described over the past three years."

Rafiq, in turn, is open to the idea of meeting with former Yorkshire team-mate Vaughan, saying there could be a role for the ex-England captain in reshaping the sport in the wake of the high-profile racism case. Vaughan met Rafiq 18 months ago in what the 48-year-old described as "positive and constructive discussions" before charges were brought by the England and Wales Cricket Board.

"The one thing I've always tried to do is try and get in a room and have conversations, because my view has always been that we're only going to get things better if humans start to have conversations with each other and get each other's perspective," he added. "And from that point of view I would always be open to that."

Rafiq said the ordeal has been "tough" and "the inside of me is broken to the absolute core". "The level of trust that's been broken inside me - I don't know whether that will ever heal," he said.

"The next bit of what I do is going to decide in my view whether people will come forward and that's why I'm very determined to make sure that what happens to me moving forward is positive. In terms of the abuse and the attacks, quite clearly it's been a message to everyone else, 'don't come forward'. But my message to everyone else will be: 'Stand up for what you believe in. Don't be a bystander. Stand up for what you believe in, and you'll have way more support than I did'."

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertain...tp&cvid=9a3f7112f18648c8a5280f73da98b81a&ei=8