When former Yorkshire Cricket Club (YCCC) player Azeem Rafiq made allegations around racism during his time at the club which led him ‘close to committing suicide’, one of the first interventions came from Roger Pugh, then Yorkshire South Premier League Chairman. Pugh took the uninvited opportunity to highlight Rafiq as ‘discorteous, disrespectful and very difficult’.
‘Indeed, over the five years in which we have been in existence, he is the only person in our league that I have had any issues with… I am not a religious man, but a biblical quote seems to me apt here. It is, ”as ye sow, so shall ye reap.”‘
In other words, Pugh took the opportunity say that Rafiq deserved to be subject to racist abuse due to him being ‘difficult’. Pugh was later forced to resign, but offered no apology when doing so.
This event in of itself would be quite shocking. Unfortunately, the saga around the Yorkshire Cricket Club’s handling around racism has only gotten worse as time has gone on. I’ve personally found this particularly depressing, both as an avid cricket fan and having previously gone to Headingley – Yorkshire’s ground – several times as a student during my time in Sheffield. With a high ethnic diaspora around Yorskhire, this compounds a club more worried about saving face than genuinely being interested in tackling racism, let alone building an inclusive relationship with minorities.
For anyone who has worked in Diversity and Inclusion, the following sequence of the ‘investigation’ around these events aren’t particularly surprising (even if they are depressing). Following the reports of racism, YCCC first ordered an ‘independent’ investigation. In reality, the ‘independent’ firm was Squire Patton Boggs, a former employer of the Yorkshire board’s chairman, Roger Hutton. The investigation was to be over the course by Xmas 2020.
Instead, it took until August 2021. On the Yorkshire board itself were two of the accused members of the investigation – chief executive Mark Arthur and director Martyn Moxon. In other words, several of those implicated had decision-making authority on what happened with the report.
After this long delay, the Board issued ‘profound apologies’ after it found Rafiq was ‘victim of inappropriate behaviour’, however they deemed there was insufficient evidence around evidence of institutional racism. This was all done without the report being released (claiming they could not due to ‘data privacy’), meaning a complete lack of transparency and questions only getting louder around the real contents of the report.
In September, the Board eventually released a summarised finding of the report which found that Rafiq was the victim of ‘racial harrassment’ and ‘bullying’. However, once again they reiterated that they could not release the report, and that there was no evidence of institutional racism.
By October, political pressure started to mount. An Employment Judge ordered YCCC to give the full report to Rafiq by 8 October, which to date they have still not done. A leaked version of the report highlighted that Rafiq was continuously referred to as P*ki – a slur against south asians – by team mates. Whilst the original version was reported by media to suggest this did indeed show a culture of racism, the Yorkshire board disagreed, and overruled this judgement, instead describing it as ‘banter’. Other comments included teammates of Rafiq asking him whether his uncles owned corner ships, and at one point a senior player approaching Rafiq and a few other South Asian players and stating that there were ‘too many of you lot, we need to do something about it’.
Last week, YCCC doubled down and released a report stating they were ‘pleased’ to announce their actions – no player or coach was deemed to face disciplinary action. Later, another teammate, Gary Ballance came out stated he was the one who used the racist slurs, but did so in an environment where this was common place, and said he was indeed a close friend of Rafiq.
With the lack of movement and growing anger at the opacity, sponsors are now pulling out – Nike will not renew their deal, whilst Emerald Group, Tetley’s and Yorkshire Tea are ending their association. This morning, Roger Hutton resigned as the chairman of Yorkshire with immediate effect. And whilst that would sound like welcome news, in reality he was one of the supporters of more transparency, whereas the aforementioned Arthur and Moxon were reported to be the larger blockers. They remain in place.
The drama does not stop here. Rafiq along with the YCCC Board members have been summoned in front of the House of Commons Digital Culture, Media and Sport Committee to give evidence this month. Rafiq, under parliamentary immunity is likely to be far more explicit than he has been now, whilst we will likely see a mixture of denial and blame shifting from the Board members that turn up.
So what can we learn from this sorry state of affairs? On the one hand, it is positive that politicians, sponsors and fans are raising their voice against what looks as a cover-up and sham. On the other hand, this event highlights how ill equipped a business such as Yorkshire Cricket Club is at dealing with a culture of racism within its organisation.
Moreover, it demonstrates how the interest of the organisation can shift to cover is backs rather than actually dealing with the issue at hand. It also highlights the difference between what an organisation says it does, compared to how it is in reality – there has been a recent PR blast from YCCC around its pathways and inclusion activities to try and brush away the questions being asked. Most depressingly of all, both Arthur and Moxon sit on the Equality and Diversity Committee within YCCC, which suggests how flawed the committee really is.
The reality is that these sorts of incidents occur in many organisations. Unfortunately, many are not public-facing organisations like Yorkshire Cricket Club, meaning these attempts at obfuscation and faux-action often work. For Rafiq, has has had to wait over a year since the investigation was launched, and any attempts of genuine accountability is being resisted to the bitter end.
So what can we learn from this? Well, organisations must not assume that they do not have racist or uninclusive cultures simply because they affirm ‘they are not racist’. Allegations such as these need proper mechanisms to be dealt with, and these need to be taken seriously. With a growing level of consciousness around the issues of racism in the workplace, these sorts of cases are only going to become more common.
From a personal perspective, I believe this is going to be a long-term battle. It is tiring simply following this saga due to its poor handling and daily twists and turns. That is not to mention what it means for me on a personal level – would I want to attend a Yorkshire Cricket Club match in the future? (Indeed the England Cricket Board has suspended international matches for the foreseeable future at Headingley). The original allegations also brought up stories of racism that members of my family faced at grass-roots level which are still commonplace (‘do you even speak English?’)
To me, this whole saga demonstrates the importance for organisations to continue working on diversity and inclusion within their culture. Otherwise, we risk alienating those who are different. There is plenty of work to do, but inaction only risks a public blow-out similar to that which Yorkshire Cricket Club are currently experiencing.