Yorkshire, Azeem Rafiq and racism

[Durhamfootman]

All no longer playing.

conveniently

[westoelad]

All no longer playing.

Not strictly true.

[sussexpob]

Some are coaching. I guess it might finish Vaughan in the comms box if true.

[Durhamfootman]

Ballance is not yet an ex player... he's just not playing

[Arthur Crabtree]

A fine distinction.

[Durhamfootman]

I was listening to Dobell tonight and he was talking about the institutional racism in cricket and the latest whistleblower allegations and he spoke for a moment about Azeem Rafiq who he'd been talking to today. Seemingly he was invited to attend the test match by the new Yorks chairman and he was very nervous about attending, but went. It was the first time he'd been back at Headingley since his career effectively ended. He came out onto the balcony and the first person in the crowd who spotted him immediately booed him..... made a point of getting as close as he could.... to boo him. How depressing!

[Arthur Crabtree]

MPV has taken leave from his BBC job, though remains under contract.

[Durhamfootman]

Andrew Gale is refusing to 'engage' with the ECB investigation

words like 'witchhunt' are being bandied about.

[westoelad]

Andrew Gale is refusing to 'engage' with the ECB investigation

words like 'witchhunt' are being bandied about.

He has been given the opportunity to counter the charges made against him and refuses to take it.
Only one conclusion to come to after that.

[Durhamfootman]

he says he isn't prepared to use up his 'limited' savings trying to defend himself

on the ECB and Yorkshire witchhunt he said

"Let's be frank, the ECB, by charging me without interview, are clearly looking to do that whatever happens. YCCC will no doubt applaud that as it looks to avoid compensating the staff it unfairly dismissed.

"I am not willing to engage in a tainted process when the relationship between the club, certain members of the media and Azeem is as close as it is."

Hmmm

all a bit Trumpian

[sussexpob]

Its a sensible move in Gale's position, simply because in a sense he can only really self-incriminate himself at any disciplinary hearing, which might jepordise the outcome of his unfair dismissal trial. While they won the initial judgement for the case to continue, I can imagine if the ECB decided to charge/ban him for his part in all this, its going to be hard for an employment law judge to argue sacking him was unjust.... I mean, if he was unavailable to perform his contractual duties I cant see how a judge could argue it was unfair to sack him.

Although, Gale's statement does present that case win earlier in the month in terms it is not..... the judge found the procedure in sacking him was wrong, I believe the next stage Yorkshire are confident that they can prove the reasons for sacking him were just, and you;d think at this point its hard to disagree with that unless all the witnesses suddenly disappear or refuse to give evidence. So him and anyone else who was involved might end up getting nothing or close to it.

[sussexpob]

I think the most outrageous part of all this fallout was reading the Yorkshire CEO got a 600k pay out.... Rafiq received 200k compensation.

Oversee that s*it show, and get rewarded more than the victim.... cant make it up

[Durhamfootman]

a familiar story nonetheless

[Arthur Crabtree]

Back in the news with a number of ex-Yorkshire players refusing to co-operate with an internal investigation into their alleged racist behaviour, including Hoggard, Bresnan, and as previously, Gale. Hoggard suggests the process is biased against them. The hearings will go on in their absence next month. Vaughan will attend.

[sussexpob]

Hoggard seems to be totally blind to the fact he has done anything wrong, even though he has basically admitted to every single charge he has had leveled against him. I guess in its own way there is something pretty depressing about that - that people lack the empathy or social awareness to understand that when you call someone "the Token black guy", they might laugh to your face and join in, but inside they are probably very upset. The fact that he then concludes the dressing room was a bad environment because this behaviour occurred, and no one fronted up about the pain it caused being the main indicator of a cultural problem.... well, its just utterly baffling. I am more inclined to believe that treating black players with respect and not using multiple racist terms as nicknames is the sign of a great dressing room....

In fact, I wanted to give Hoggard the benefit of the doubt and be inclined to consider him a decent man that behaved poorly - but at what stage do you have to say that being unapologetic or throwing weak excuses out for what seems to me like multiple cases of racism against multiple people, and then claiming that he is someway a victim, is what is very much looks like? He's either a very moronic decent man, or not a very decent man at all. Evidence points to the latter.

Its hard to really justify any of this in context. This didn't happen in 1976 either, a lot of this behaviour is in the last 15 years.... way past the point where there was any doubt that calling someone the South African "K word" would, in ANY situation, be acceptable. And he lived in South Africa for a while, so trying to argue he picked it up from Asian team mates calling Rafiq a muslim term for non-believers seems like a really crap argument.

Sorry Matthew, but you cant have 5 instances of racist language being aimed at various people, and expect me to believe in every single one it's not what it looks like.

In a way you have to at least respect Ballance.... at least he had the balls to admit he had been involved, apologise for what he had done, and taken his opportunity to leave the club voluntarily. Maybe some of the others could follow his lead.