Yorkshire CCC racism crisis: Live updates as Tom Harrison gives evidence to MPs after Azeem Rafiq's testimony

Azeem Rafiq added: “All I wanted to do is play cricket and play for England and live my dream and live my family’s dream. In my first spell, I don’t really think I quite realised what it was. I think I was in denial.”

He said he started medication due to his deteriorating mental health and left Yorkshire for the first time in 2014.

When he returned he initially felt settled under captain Alex Lees and coach Jason Gillespie.

“Jason left in 2016 and it just felt the temperature in the room had been turned up,” Rafiq said. “You had Andrew Gale coming in as coach and Gary Ballance as captain.

“For the first time I started to see for what it was – I felt isolated, humiliated at times. Constant use of the word ‘P***’.”

Rafiq said on a 2017 pre-season tour Ballance had racially abused him.

“We were in a place and Gary Ballance walks over and goes, ‘Why are you talking to him? You know he’s a P***’. This happened in front of team-mates. It happened in front of coaching staff.”

Azeem Rafiq says the problems of racism he experienced at Yorkshire CCC are replicated in other counties “without a shadow of a doubt”.

“This is a problem up and down the country,” he says.

Azeem Rafiq fought back tears as he told MPs the word ‘P***’ was “used constantly” across his two spells at Yorkshire and no one in leadership challenged it.

Rafiq first alleged racial harassment and bullying against the county and accused them of institutional racism in September last year, with the club launching an investigation soon afterwards.

However, their handling of it has been heavily criticised. They finally published summary findings of the investigation in September this year and while the investigation found there was “no question” Rafiq had been subjected to racial harassment and bullying, no individuals faced disciplinary action.

Rafiq told the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Tuesday: “Pretty early on at the club, I joined a dressing room full of my heroes, Michael Vaughan, Matthew Hoggard, part of the 2005 Ashes team. And it was just the most surreal moment for me.

“Pretty early on, me and other people from an Asian background… there were comments such as, ‘you’ll sit over there near the toilets’, ‘elephant washers’. The word P*** was used constantly. And there just seemed to be an acceptance in the institution from the leaders and no one ever stamped it out.”

Julian Knight MP, chair of the committee, said there have been “widespread refusals” from invited witnesses invited to give evidence to the hearing.

Tom Harrison and Roger Hutton have arrived to give evidence to MPs.

Anyone wanting to watch the hearing can do so via this link:

https://parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/17263424-93b9-4f72-ae8d-b585d1e32400

A useful explainer from the Press Association on this morning’s events...

What is a select committee?

A parliamentary select committee is a cross-party group of MPs, set up to scrutinise the work and remit of a specific Government department.

Why is this one interested in Yorkshire?

The racism allegations of Azeem Rafiq and others pertaining to their time at Yorkshire has attracted huge political interest, from an urgent question debate in the House of Commons to a mass co-signed letter from some of the county’s most prominent politicians urging the England and Wales Cricket Board to take action. Health secretary Sajid Javid also said “heads should roll”, and now it is time for those on the DCMS committee to ask their own questions.

Who will they hear from?

Top billing goes to one man: Azeem Rafiq. He is slated to appear from 9.30am and has an approximate 45-minute window for his evidence. Given his apparent eagerness to have his say – he tweeted a video of a motorway journey on Monday with the caption “time for TRUTHS” – it would be no surprise to see that run into overtime. England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive Tom Harrison will also appear.

What about Yorkshire’s response?

After Rafiq is finished, a second panel is due to feature former Yorkshire chair Roger Hutton, who resigned over the episode, as well as unnamed representatives of the club. The committee had previously indicated chief executive Mark Arthur, who has since stood down, and director of medical services Wayne Morton would also submit themselves for questioning but that commitment appears to be up in the air. A revised press release on Monday afternoon said Yorkshire’s witness list was “to be confirmed”. White Rose director of cricket Martyn Moxon is almost certain to be absent having been signed off with a stress-related illness.

If Rafiq’s allegations are already public, what else can he say?

This is where the notion of “parliamentary privilege” comes in. Witnesses are invited to speak freely in front of committees, unburdened by the legal pitfalls that can contain their allegations in public or in print. A guide issued to participants reads: “Witnesses to select committees enjoy absolute privilege in respect of the evidence they give. In practical terms this means that select committee witnesses are immune from civil or criminal proceedings founded upon that evidence”. If Rafiq has any new or previously unheard claims to make, this is the time to air them.

What do the committee already know?

Thanks to the intervention of Yorkshire’s newly installed chair Lord Kamlesh Patel, the committee has been furnished with a full and unredacted copy of the independent report into Rafiq’s allegations. A summary of that document upheld seven allegations and found that Rafiq had been the victim of racial harassment and bullying. By the time they come to ask their questions, the MPs will be well versed in the details on the case.

Who are the key committee players?

The group is chaired by Conservative MP Julian Knight, who looks unlikely to tread softly. He has previously said Yorkshire’s treatment of Rafiq looked like “victim-blaming”, said he was “dumbfounded” by the decision not to discipline any staff in the aftermath of the report and that “the club must be held accountable for its culture”. Damian Green, who acted as first secretary of state and de facto deputy Prime Minister under Theresa May, is another member of the 11-strong group, while Kevin Brennan is a prominent voice among the four Labour representatives.

What comes next?

The committee will produce a report of its findings and present them to the Commons. After that the Government will reply within two months advising on its proposed course of action. The committee can also recommend action from a non-governmental organisation – in this case Yorkshire and the ECB would be the only likely candidates – and would ask for responses on a similar time-scale.

Azeem Rafiq’s lawyer Jen Robinson has predicted he “may well give examples” of racism at Yorkshire during an evidence session of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee this morning.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “There’s a lot more to be said about the culture of racism and institutional racism at Yorkshire.

“Of course Azeem has gone through so much. He was encouraged to speak out about this after the Black Lives Matter movement and, for the past year, the club has done nothing but try and quiet things up, sweep things under the carpet and keep things quiet.

“This is the first time he’s really going to have the opportunity to tell his story, and I think this is the first part of what he wants to see change, which is to acknowledge the problem, to talk about the problem, to break the silence around cricket and the racism in cricket and to acknowledge the problem and move on.

“This is the first part of what Azeem wants to see, to make sure kids coming through cricket don’t go through what he went through.

“This has never been about individual players and individual people, for Azeem this has always been about taking on institutional racism and taking on a culture at Yorkshire where it was not only accepted to use racial slurs, but it has almost become normalised.

“He may well give examples today before the committee and it’s important people understand what’s happened, but again, this is for him not about individuals, it’s about the institutional culture, it’s about changing the way people are treated in the sport.”

Yorkshire began a formal investigation into Rafiq’s allegations in September 2020 and a summary of an independent report, released in August of this year, claimed there had been insufficient evidence to conclude the club were institutionally racist.

Good morning and welcome to live coverage of the Parliamentary hearing into the racism storm which has engulfed Yorkshire CCC in recent weeks.

The evidence session is due to get under way at 9.30am.

Here is a useful scene setter on what to expect from PA reporter Rory Dollard...

The Yorkshire racism scandal reaches parliament today as Azeem Rafiq appears before MPs.

The county’s former spinner said it is “time for truths” on Monday as he prepared for the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) select committee hearing in Westminster.

Protected by parliamentary privilege, Rafiq will be able to comment on all aspects of his wide-ranging allegations of institutional racism at Yorkshire without fear of legal reprisal.

The 30-year-old, whose second spell at Headingley ended in 2018, initially voiced his claims in an interview in September 2020. A protracted investigation by Yorkshire eventually concluded he was a victim of “racial harassment and bullying” but, controversially, that nobody would be disciplined.

Their report into the matter has not been made public and the county’s handling of the case attracted heavy criticism, prompting the DCMS committee to become involved.

Rafiq, who has already agreed a financial settlement with his old club, will be followed in giving evidence by former Yorkshire chair Roger Hutton, who resigned in the aftermath of the episode.

Former chief executive Mark Arthur and director of medical services Wayne Morton had initially been listed to attend but their names were not on a revised call list on Monday.

It was already anticipated that director of cricket Martyn Moxon would not be attending having recently been signed off from work due to a stress-related illness.

The cross-party committee hearing, which will be chaired by Conservative MP Julian Knight and shown live on the BBC Parliament channel, will also take evidence from England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive Tom Harrison. Other figures from the governing body will also appear.

Rafiq appeared to be embracing his opportunity on Monday, tweeting a video clip of a motorway trip captioned “time for TRUTHS”. The implication was that he was travelling south with new details to share.

Meanwhile, former England captain Michael Vaughan has repeated his denials that he made racist comments towards Yorkshire team-mates, including Rafiq.

Vaughan revealed earlier this month that he featured in Yorkshire’s report into Rafiq’s allegations after being accused of telling four Asian players, “(there’s)

too many of you lot, we need to do something about it”.

These claims, dating back to a match in 2009, were supported by former Pakistan international Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and, on Monday, also backed up by current England player Adil Rashid.

“I can confirm Azeem Rafiq’s recollection of Michael Vaughan’s comments to a group of us Asian players,” Rafiq said in a statement to The Cricketer.

Vaughan responded in a letter to the PA news agency, which read: “I categorically deny saying the words attributed to me by Azeem Rafiq and want to re-state this publicly because the ‘you lot’ comment simply never happened.

“It is extremely upsetting that this completely false accusation has been made against me by a former team-mate, apparently supported by two other players.”

He added: “I have great sympathy for what Azeem Rafiq has gone through, but I hope everyone understands why I cannot allow this to go unchallenged or my reputation to be trashed unfairly.”