Azeem Rafiq’s revelations: All you need to know on cricket’s racism crisis

Azeem Rafiq’s testimony to MPs and witness statement about the discrimination he experienced at Yorkshire have sent shockwaves through the sport.

Here the PA news agency summarises the state of play in cricket’s racism crisis.

What is the background to this?

Yorkshire launched an investigation almost immediately but were criticised for the length of time the report took to complete and their failure to publish it. The summary findings upheld seven out of Rafiq’s 43 claims, including some “racial harassment and bullying” but the club concluded no disciplinary action would be taken against any individuals. On November 1, ESPNcricinfo reported that the investigation panel had dismissed the repeated use of the word ‘P***’ by a team-mate towards Rafiq as “friendly banter”. Yorkshire’s handling of the investigation received cross-party political criticism which led to Tuesday’s committee hearing.

What happened on Tuesday?

In a witness statement to the Leeds Employment Tribunal which was published online by the committee after the hearing, further allegations against former colleagues at Yorkshire including Andrew Gale, Tim Bresnan, Gary Ballance, Michael Vaughan, Matthew Hoggard and Alex Hales were set out.

What have they said?

Vaughan has twice denied making a racially insensitive comment towards Rafiq and a group of other players of Asian ethnicity in 2009. Ballance admitted in a statement released by Yorkshire earlier this month that he had used a “racial slur” towards Rafiq and offered their previous close friendship as context. Hales said on Wednesday he “categorically and absolutely” denies naming his dog ‘Kevin’ had a “racial connotation”. Sky commentator David Lloyd has admitted, and said sorry, for sending disparaging messages in private. Former Yorkshire captain David Byas, who had left the club before Rafiq’s arrival but was also accused of historical racism in his witness statement, said: “I deny emphatically phrases attributed to me”.

Will more ‘heads roll’?

That is the memorable phrase Health Secretary Sajid Javid used earlier in this scandal and while Roger Hutton and Mark Arthur respectively stepped down as chair and chief executive at Headingley there could be more to come. Rafiq made it clear in a round of follow-up broadcast interviews that he felt Yorkshire could not begin anew until both head coach Gale and director of cricket Martyn Moxon were gone. He said Ballance had a second chance if he repented in full. Meanwhile, senior administrators all the way up to England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive Tom Harrison have come under fire for the game’s wider reaction to Rafiq’s 18-month public protest.

What is the sport doing about it?

Yorkshire have opened an independent whistleblowing hotline, with their new chair Lord Patel vowing to take “further action” but saying the county are at “the start of a journey” to make the club a “template” for inclusion. The ECB has set up a joint reporting service with the Professional Cricketers’ Association and is continuing its investigation into Yorkshire’s handling of Rafiq’s allegations. It has already suspended the county from hosting major international matches at Headingley.

The ECB has also set up the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) which has opened its call for evidence. Its chair, Cindy Butts, says she wants to hold a mirror up to the sport and hear from anyone connected to the sport about their experiences of discrimination in any form. The ECB has found itself widely criticised for its slow response, with Conservative peer Baroness Warsi concluding they allowed Yorkshire to “mark their own homework”.

Has Rafiq satisfied now?