AZEEM RAFIQ, former Yorkshire player, was accused of employing “the race card” on Friday (3) when Michael Vaughan defended himself against an accusation that he made a racial comment to his former Yorkshire team-mate.
Matthew Wood—Rafiq’s former personal development manager at the Professional Cricketers’ Association—appeared as a witness on behalf of Vaughan.
Wood said that he was aware of two occasions in which Azeem (directly or indirectly) stated that he would be willing to use the “race card” in his interactions with him.
Michael Vaughan, former England captain, stated on Friday that it was “inconceivable” that he would utter the racial remark for which Azeem Rafiq has charged him. Vaughan was cross-examined in front of the public Cricket Discipline Commission hearing into Rafiq’s claims of racism at Yorkshire.
As Vaughan’s case began on Thursday (2), it was anticipated that he would speak. However, Adil Rashid and Rafiq were cross-examined for most of the day by Christopher Stoner KC, Vaughan’s solicitor, through a video link from Bangladesh.
Last week saw the beginning of the independent Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) panel hearing into the racism issue at Yorkshire County Cricket Club – with Azeem Rafiq testifying after he made serious allegations about the treatment he received when he played for the club.
Rafiq said he experienced racial abuse while playing for the English county Yorkshire more than two years ago.
Rafiq claims Michael Vaughan told him and a group of Asian teammates from Yorkshire that there were “too many of you lot, we need to do something about it” at a 2009 game. The accusation is emphatically denied by Vaughan, but Adil Rashid, an English leg-spinner, and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, a former Pakistani pacer, have both backed up Rafiq’s assertion.
Rashid testified through a video-link (he is currently playing for England in Bangladesh) that he overheard Vaughan telling “there’s too many of you lot”. He describes it as a “bad joke…a poor attempt at humour,” and claims that he was not personally offended.
On the second day of the CDC, Vaughan’s solicitor, Christopher Stoner KC, submitted the transcript of an interview Ajmal Shahzad, a former England bowler conducted with the English Cricket Board.
Vaughan maintains that he never spoke the words in question. “I think Adil is being pressurised,” said Shahzad. “So, I think there are a lot of things that you guys may not be aware of that are happening, and it’s quite murky.
“I spoke to Rashid …. when I was at Yorkshire coaching, and he was very uncomfortable with where this was going. He wanted to nip it in the bud sooner rather than later because quite frankly he was uncomfortable with how much Rafiq knew about Adil. And that at some point [Rafiq] was capable of, you know, using something that he knew about [Rashid] personally against him.”
Shahzad said that he was “putting two and two together” in thinking that Rashid was being pressurised.
But Rashid insisted that Rafiq did not pressure him into believing his version of events and disputed that Rafiq “knew” anything about him, including information” that might be compromising”. He said that he had chosen to speak out after reading Vaughan’s denial.
Rafiq has also denied blackmailing England spin bowler and important witness Adil Rashid.
Gary Ballance, one of the people, has previously pleaded guilty to a charge of using racially offensive remarks. Former England Test player Ballance is currently playing for Zimbabwe, the nation where he was born.
John Blain, Tim Bresnan, Andrew Gale, Matthew Hoggard, and Richard Pyrah are the remaining five who have said they will not attend. The charges against them will be considered by the panel even when they are not present, the ECB has previously stated.
It was claimed Bresnan, an ex-Yorkshire all-rounder, used a racist insult at Asian women in 2014, including Rafiq’s sister Amna Rafiq, “fit P**i” and “FP,” according to Jane Mulcahy KC, the solicitor for the England and Wales Cricket Board.
Rafiq and his Asian teammates Adil Rashid, Ajmal Shahzad, and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan were also allegedly addressed to as “the brothers” and “you lot”, by him.
Bresnan previously refuted the accusations, saying the word “brothers” was used, but not in a prejudiced or racist fashion. The 38-year-old, who has 23 times represented England at the Test level, also said he had no memory of saying “you lot” during a game against Derbyshire and that he had never met Amna Rafiq.
Like Bresnan, Hoggard and Blain have denied accusations of using racial or discriminatory language as well as charges of bringing the game into disgrace. Azeem Rafiq’s KC, Jane Mulcahy asserted that it was “more likely than not” that all three of the trio uttered the racist remarks.
Yorkshire has admitted four charges and the club said last week that another of the charges they had admitted related to the deletion and destruction of electronic and paper documents prior to current chair Lord Kamlesh Patel taking over in November 2021.
The county’s previous administration had received harsh criticism for how they handled Rafiq’s situation; at one point, the ECB suspended Yorkshire’s ability to host lucrative international matches until new governance was put in place.
Pakistan-born Rafiq, 32, initially came out in 2020 to claim that during his two spells at Yorkshire, he had experienced racial harassment and abuse.
In December 2022, he testified before a British parliamentary committee that the persecution he and his family had endured had compelled him to leave the country. Not sure he said this at the time but subsequently.
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