Warwickshire CCC unofficial fans forum
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It is not a good time to be a Yorkshire CCC supporter:
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cricket/azeem-rafiq-yorkshire-julian-knight-sajid-javid-england-b1951278.html
I guess before we gloat too much at the plight of the Yorkies, we should at least register that two of the current Bears squad were at Yorkshire during the time when Azeem Rafiq was being racially abused. Hopefully, they will not be in any way incriminated by any further revelations that are bound to happen in the coming weeks.
Those running our Club will also be aware that, until the late season emergence of Manraj Johal, the first team squad was notably lacking in players from an ethnic minority background.

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Good summary of the case on Radio 4 interview this morning 8.30am. Gary Richardson with George Dobell
from 2 hours 30 mins https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00114m4

This is indeed a wider issue of the game as a whole at club/county and school level but particular issues exist within Yorkshire at county and club level historically that only probably exist on a much smaller scale elsewhere (Essex and East London with their Bengali communities perhaps?)

ECB will hold a meeting at 6pm tonight then Yorkshire EGM tomorrow

Dobell is quite right the up to a dozen perpetrators from 2008-2018 need help as opposed to ostracising for going along with something that was clearly ingrained in the clubs "win at all costs" and show "true northern grit Yorkshire" mentality but the club (and Yorkshire county cricket structures) needs transforming and needs to let go of its rather dated 1960's/70's outlook

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As well as sponsors withdrawing from contracts the ECB are now preventing Yorkshire from hosting major matches.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/59169535

Also, Jacob Bethel is Barbadian, so technically he has an ethnic minority background.

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Worse still to come in terms of the evidence to be presented too. Genuinely feel it might lead to Yorkshire being expelled from first class status for a season or two. They might not be able to afford to field sides at that level either.

I wonder if other counties will get dragged in. I see Gloucestershire put out a statement a month back apologising for not following up a racist incident towards Syd Lawrence at Cheltenham in the 80's. It was almost certainly rife in much of the game back then not just Yorkshire where the culture seems to have carried some of these aspects 25/30 years longer than elsewhere.

Azeem Rafiq put 43 incidents to the investigation. A large number were not even considered by the investigation which has been described as like marking one's own homework.

Fixtures will be delayed no doubt. Can't see them being issued much before Xmas now although I notice the Minor Counties fixture dates are out now and there's another of those slots for 50 over game First Class v National Counties showcase - July 30/August 1st which suggests the 50 over comp will be in August again

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I agree that, sadly, there is much more to come.
As for Jacob Bethell being from an ethnic minority, he is as white as I am. When he signed his first contract, George Dobell described him as being "so fresh-faced Ollie Pope could be his dad". If having him in the Warwickshire squad improves its ethnic diversity, Yorkshire could argue that having Gary Ballance who was born in Zimbabwe does the same for them. Technically, they could both describe themselves, in the categories used in the 2011 census, as "White, other" so I suppose that is a minority of sorts.

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Michael Vaughan is named in the report. I presume his is the incident Rafiq has previously described from Trent Bridge 2009 a T20 match when a senior player told him as they walked onto the field "there's too many of you lot, we need to have a word"

He's likely to deny the allegation and it's a trickier one to pin down but does speak to the culture at the club

Well he's long advocated a reduction in the number of counties playing first class cricket so at least we now have one that can be scrubbed from the game...

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The Yorkshire chairman has now resigned, as well as other board members.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/59172267

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Rana Naved (Yorkshire's overseas player in 2009 who played alongside Azeem, Shazad and Adil Rashid in the T20 match at Trent Bridge) has corroborated Azeems allegation against Vaughan.

Another Asian player has spoken of racism in the early 2000's at Yorkshire

I'd suggest Vaughan's media career is toast

I hope Bresnan is not one of the names as he played that day too

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The list of sponsors withdrawing has grown:
Nike, Anchor Butter' Yorkshire Tea, Tetley’s Beer, Harrogate Spring Water, David Lloyd Clubs, Bagnalls, Leeds Beckett University
It's rumoured that Lord Patel is to be the new/interim Chair of Yorkshire CCC.

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It's an appalling situation whichever way you look at it and as others have said the fallout from it will go on for quite a while. I must confess I have worried about the possibility that Warwickshire might be indirectly dragged into it.

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Interview with Tom Harrison here well worth reading

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/yorkshire-s-handling-of-racism-crisis-was-leading-the-sport-into-serious-disrepute-ecb-chief-executive-tom-harrison-1287660

From this I'm still not entirely sure the ECB have got a complete handle on this or realise the magnitude of the abuses up at Headingley. Talk of similar punishment to what Durham had handed out to them. Surely it'd have to be more severe than that!

Is this issue simply bigger than the ECB or are they just too intertwined with YCCC to act as independent overseers?

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Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse for YCCC, Colin Graves is reported to have offered to go back and take charge. Maybe they deserve each other.

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Damning assessment of the ECB here. Spot on too. All the issues Yorkshire have caused over the years including the monkey chants at Gladstone and Alvin 1982 semi final. TCCB at that time and now the ECB far too cosy with Yorkshire it seems.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2021/nov/05/racism-cricket-ecb-azeem-rafiq-yorkshire-cricket

the ECB is “not fit for purpose”. But then, this model was always a punt, a 25-year experiment in how to run cricket based around TV rights and the England team.

Other things have been neglected along the way: the wider mission, the need to see more than just a commodity to be harvested. In Harrison, a marketeer and a salesman, the ECB probably has the figurehead it deserves right now. But sport must be more than this

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Other than the recurrence of a nasty case of haemorrhoids, it is difficult to imagine much worse than the return of Colin Graves.

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3 good discussion pieces on BBC Breakfast this morning including chats with Roland Butcher and Jonathon Agnew
Agnew clearly upset after a chat yesterday with a former colleague who had experienced racism in his playing days

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0011g46/breakfast-06112021

Forward to 1 hr 31, then 2 hr 29 and finally 3 hr 35.

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From the Sunday Telegraph today.

Yorkshire are considering releasing the bombshell Azeem Rafiq racism report by Wednesday, with two more former England internationals now fearing they have been named in it.
Senior figures across cricket and some within the club are pushing hard for the full findings to be published imminently as the sport scrambles to restore trust amid the escalating furore.
After Gary Ballance and Michael Vaughan were named this week as among those accused by Rafiq, two other England players hired lawyers in the expectation they will be identified.
The unnamed pair declined to comment when contacted by Telegraph Sport after a week in which Ballance said "I deeply regret" calling Rafiq a "P---" in "my younger years". Vaughan, however, said in his Telegraph Sport column that he "completely and categorically" denies suggestions he used racially insensitive language.
Rafiq made more than 40 allegations, of which seven were proven, and it is now seen as a matter of time before Yorkshire voluntarily publishes the report following mounting pressure.
Lord Patel of Bradford, the interim chairman drafted in after Roger Hutton dramatically quit on Friday, will address the media for the first time on Monday, and talks had taken place over whether it should be published then.
Amid the worst crisis in the club's 158-year history, the Equality and Human Rights Commission became the latest establishment authority to say that it was "deeply concerned about the incidents of racism" against Rafiq. Commission chief executive Marcial Boo said he has written to the club "to ask for more information, including a full copy of their investigation report, to determine if there has been a breach of the law". "We will take action if so," he added.
Yorkshire's reputation has already endured untold damage during a week in which the most senior figures in Government demanded "heads should roll" and questioned whether the England and Wales Cricket Board was "fit for purpose" over its handling of the saga.
Following an "internal review" sparked by the findings of a 12-month inquiry into race claims tabled by Rafiq, the club announced 10 days ago that "there is no conduct or action taken by any of its employees, players or executives that warrants disciplinary action".
However, leading Government figures launched a barrage of attacks on the club this week, leading to almost all advertisers tearing up deals with the club, after it emerged a "P---" slur aimed by Ballance at Rafiq was dismissed in the report as "friendly banter".
Amid the intensifying crisis, Vaughan was also stood down temporarily from his regular BBC show due to be broadcast on Monday after he voluntarily revealed in The Telegraph that he is among the list of current and former Yorkshire officials accused by Rafiq.
Vaughan's "total" denial that he told Asian players "too many of you lot, we need to do something about it" prompted Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, the former Yorkshire all-rounder, to rally behind Rafiq's version of events.
However, a third player alleged to have been present, Ajmal Shahzad, has previously said he has no recollection of Vaughan saying those words relating to a match at Trent Bridge.
Senior club executives now accept they would have been better off releasing the full 100-page report in September - which was already a year since the independent investigation was launched.
Rafiq, 30, captained Yorkshire in Twenty20 cricket but left the club in 2018 and said he was made to feel like an outsider as a Muslim. He filed a legal claim under the Equality Act in December, alleging direct discrimination and harassment on the grounds of race, as well as victimisation and detriment as a result of his efforts to address racism at the club.
On Friday, Hutton quit dramatically ahead of a board meeting at which he faced being ousted and called on Mark Arthur and Martyn Moxon to follow suit after the club were banned from staging England matches and other showpiece fixtures. Yorkshire later confirmed Stephen Willis, the non-executive director who was on the panel that ruled Gary Ballance calling Azeem Rafiq a P--- had been banter, and Hanif Malik had also quit.
Now, Lord Patel, who last year retired as a director of the England & Wales Cricket Board, has been parachuted into the Headingley hotseat to attempt to clean up the mess.
Colin Graves had been willing to return as chairman but that was ultimately viewed as being too toxic an appointment amid accusations Yorkshire had also been institutionally racist during his own tenure.
Lord Patel said: “The club needs to learn from its past errors, regain trust and rebuild relationships with our communities. There is much work to do, including reading the panel’s report, so we can begin the process of learning from our past mistakes.”
Graves, who was ECB chairman until last year, and Lord Patel served together on the board of the governing body. It remains to be seen whether the latter’s appointment will satisfy those who have demanded wholesale change at the club.
Yorkshire were due to host two England men’s games in 2022 – June’s third Test against New Zealand, and July’s third one-day international against South Africa.

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Plenty more to come:
https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/yorkshire-racism-crisis-azeem-rafiq-the-most-stubborn-man-in-yorkshire-achieves-his-vindication-1288427
(PS - I see that George is still writing for Cricinfo although he is no longer their Senior Correspondent.)

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Interesting headline that. Yorkshire like to portray their county attributes as stubbornness and that's what's got the county in this much trouble.

Gale suspended and Moxon off with stress. As with all the others once they are shown the door - as they surely must be - they all need help/education going forwards and will get work elsewhere. The ECB letting them get away with it for this long is majorly at fault for the "stress"

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Today we have news of both the Yorkshire CEO and the Essex chairman resigning

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/59262824

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I suggested last week (above) Essex might be involved. I'd be surprised if there were many others with recent stuff hanging about them Middlesex and Surrey may have historic 80's 90's stuff coming up and Gloucestershire already know about a few cases but I'd be shocked if any other county let it get to 2020 with this kinda stuff. Think most cricket fans knew Yorkshire would have to be confronted by this stuff eventually. Long time coming...