The blistering testimony of Pakistan-born Azeem Rafiq at a parliamentary hearing ripped off the genteel veneer of English county cricket—typically associated with immaculate whites and idyllic greens. It also revealed the sport’s ugly secret: racist abuse is not limited to bigoted fans but very much a part of the players dressing room.
Azeem Rafiq: is a 30-year-old former cricketer who played for most of his career at the Yorkshire County Cricket Club—and was also its captain in 2012. He was born in Pakistan, but moved to England at the age of 10. His testimony exposing racism at Yorkshire at a parliamentary hearing this week took the country by storm.
A timeline: Here’s how we got here:
A history of racism: While everyone is so very shocked by Rafiq’s testimony, the exclusion of people of colour from English cricket is well-documented—especially at the county level:
Here are the main highlights:
The racist nicknames: Rafiq brought attention to the treatment received by other Yorkshire players of colour—including Cheteshwar Pujara who was nicknamed ‘Steve’. Here is Pujara talking about his nickname:
FYI, others have called out the offensive practice of calling every non-white player ‘Steve’.
Contrary to what a polite Pujara says, the practice has nothing to do with difficult-to-pronounce foreign names—as Rafiq made clear in his testimony. According to him, former England batter Gary Ballance routinely used ‘Kevin’ “to describe anyone of colour in a very derogatory manner. It was an open secret in the England dressing room.” To add greater insult to injury, team member Alex Hales deliberately named his dog Kevin because it was black.
Naming names: Apart from Ballance and Hales, Rafiq also called out Tim Bresnan, Andrew Gale and Matthew Hoggard. And he flagged the attitude of current England captain Joe Root—who was Ballance’s housemate and claims he does not recall any racist behaviour at the club:
“‘Rooty is a good man. He never engaged in racist language,’ Rafiq added. ‘I found it hurtful because Rooty was Gary [Ballance]’s housemate and had been involved in a lot of the socialising where I was called a ‘Paki’. It shows how normal it was that even a good man like him doesn’t see it for what it was. It’s not going to affect Joe but it’s something I remember every day.’”
Forced drinking: As a 15-year old playing for his local cricket club, Rafiq says he was pinned down and had red wine poured down his throat. The player who did it went on to represent Yorkshire and Hampshire.
Relentless daily abuse: Racist taunts and jokes were not occasional hazards—but a daily commonplace routine—even for coach Andrew Gale:
“Andrew joined in with Gary and others in the racist banter. Throughout my time at YCCC, Andrew called me ‘Raffa the Kaffir’, ‘Paki’ and so on. But it was the discriminatory treatment and bullying I felt from him that was harder for me than the name calling.”
It got so bad that Rafiq had to start taking medication for his mental health—and started having suicidal thoughts after his wife delivered a stillborn child. He broke down in tears as he described how the current director of cricket at Yorkshire Martyn Moxon “ripped shreds off me” when he returned to work after the tragedy: “They weren't really bothered about the fact that I was at training one day and I get a phone call to say there's no heartbeat.”
Watch the highlights here:
The bottomline: Mihir Bose in The Guardian reminds us that the British first introduced racial segregation in cricket when they brought the sport with them during the Raj. Rafiq has made it plain not much has changed with the English since then.
BBC News has the best background on the scandal. The Guardian has highlights of Rafiq’s testimony. Be sure to read Mihir Bose’s column decimating racism in English cricket. Times UK has a very good read on the racism of Yorkshire fans but it’s behind a paywall. The Conversation looks at a study that shows how racist banter leads to a less diverse team on the field. The Drum calls out sponsors for pretending to be shocked by racism in Yorkshire. Also in The Guardian: Why racist nicknames matter.
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