Yorkshire chairman resigns in spiralling cricket race row
The chairman of Yorkshire resigned on Friday over a growing racism row.
LONDON (AFP) - The chairman of Yorkshire resigned on Friday over a growing racism row involving former player Azeem Rafiq, with two more board members following him out of the crisis-hit cricket club.
Pakistan-born Rafiq has accused Yorkshire of failing to deal adequately with the abuse he suffered at the county, saying he had been driven to thoughts of suicide.
The club apologised to the 30-year-old in September but subsequently said they would take no disciplinary action against any of their staff.
That unleased a wave of fierce criticism, including from government ministers, with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) stripping Yorkshire of their right to host international matches.
Meanwhile, there was a mass exodus of sponsors, including Nike, from the club.
Yorkshire chairman Roger Hutton quit Friday with immediate effect, issuing a full apology to Rafiq and calling on the executive board to follow suit.
Hours later the club announced Kamlesh Patel had been appointed in Hutton s place, with two other members stepping down.
Hutton said in a lengthy statement that senior Yorkshire figures had failed to recognise the seriousness of the situation.
"There has been a constant unwillingness from the executive members of the board and senior management at the club to apologise, and to accept that there was racism, and to look forward," he said.
"For much of my time at the club, I experienced a culture that refuses to accept change or challenge."
Hutton, who joined the Yorkshire board in 2020, nearly two years after Rafiq ended his second stint at the club, also took aim at the ECB, saying it had refused his plea "to support a robust inquiry".
The governing body acknowledged in a statement the club had requested help but said it had to act independently of any Yorkshire investigation in case it was required to intervene as a regulator.
- New claims -
Patel, who is a lawmaker in Britain s unelected House of Lords, said in a Yorkshire statement he was looking forward to "driving the change that is needed".
"The club needs to learn from its past errors, regain trust and rebuild relationships with our communities," explained Patel.
But even as he sounded an optimistic note, the Daily Mail reported that another, unnamed, ex-Yorkshire player of Asian heritage had come forward with claims of racial misconduct.
Former England captain Michael Vaughan, who played for Yorkshire -- home to many cricketers of South Asian origin -- is also embroiled in the controversy.
Writing in his Daily Telegraph column, he said the report commissioned by Yorkshire states he told a group of Asian players -- including Rafiq -- in 2009: "Too many of you lot, we need to do something about it."
"I completely and categorically deny that I ever said those words," Vaughan wrote in the newspaper. "I will fight to the end to prove I am not that person."
On Wednesday, former England batsman Gary Ballance admitted he was guilty of using a "racial slur" against Rafiq during a friendship in which he claims both men had said inappropriate things to each other.
The following day the ECB said Ballance, who has not played international cricket since 2017, would be "suspended indefinitely" from England selection pending an investigation.
The ECB also announced it was suspending Yorkshire from staging international matches at their Headingley headquarters in Leeds -- a huge financial blow for one of England s most successful counties.
Publishing company Emerald have ended their title sponsorship of Headingley and Nike said they would "no longer be the kit supplier for Yorkshire CCC".
But ECB chief executive Tom Harrison, said there was no desire to see the club reduced to rubble.
"It is a very serious financial crisis that will now take place at Yorkshire, and we must now make sure that we find the balance right between helping and rehabilitating this very famous club from financial oblivion," he said.
