ECB BBC Racism Investigation Continuation

 

Great timing (see article below). BBC Article here

For a piece that pertains to be written by the BBC's cricket people, it is odd that they failed to connect Jack Brooks with Yorkshire (played there 2013 -2018) although the offending tweets were sent in 2012 when he was a Northants player and their deletion happened during the same month that he underwent diversity training at the instigation of his then county Somerset. It is not however recorded if Tymal Mills and Stewart Laudat were offended or not, as no context has been given.



ECB's bungled Yorkshire investigation will hurt England T20WC preparations.
Ben Rumsby.
London Daily Telegraph.
Thursday, 11 August 2022.
PTG 3963-19457.


It took seven months for charges to finally be issued over the Yorkshire racism scandal, a timeline which even the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) own former chairman, Colin Graves, admitted should have been "much quicker”. The case had already been the subject of an independent and parliamentary enquiry, but the end result is that the ECB now risk plunging England's Twenty20 World (T20WC) preparations into chaos after the disciplinary hearing was scheduled for October- the same month the T20WC starts in Australia.


The likes of England T20WC player Adil Rashid being summoned to give evidence about English cricket’s worst racism scandal would be as far from an ideal build-up to one of the game’s flagship international tournaments as it is possible to imagine. But the ECB has only got itself to blame for what would be merely the latest in a catalogue of calamities to have befallen it since Azeem Rafiq first blew the whistle over the affair almost exactly two years ago.


Had it not refused a request by Yorkshire for assistance investigating Rafiq’s allegations – the reasons for which were later called into question when it did intervene – the saga may have been long since over. It certainly might have avoided the farce of several of Rafiq’s claims being upheld only for the crisis county to announce no-one would face any action over them. It may also have prevented the findings being reinterpreted by a Yorkshire-appointed panel that ruled him being called a P--- was “banter”.


As it was, it was left to Members of Parliament (MP) sitting on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee to conduct a public show trial at which a tearful Rafiq aired harrowing testimony unchallenged under parliamentary privilege (PTG 3729-18366, 17 November 2021). The months to have followed have been purgatory both for Rafiq and his alleged – and self-confessed – abusers. Gary Balance, who admitted having called his former team-mate a P--- in “a situation where best friends said offensive things to each other”, has only just returned from a major break from the game with mental health problems. Michael Vaughan, who denies telling Rafiq and other Muslim players, “Too many of you lot”, in 2009, has effectively been exiled by the BBC pending the outcome of the case.


But arguably the biggest victims of what has been a witch-hunt against anyone at Yorkshire caught up in the case have been members of the coaching team sacked en masse amid severe pressure from MPs and the existential threat of the club being stripped of England matches. Ongoing Employment Tribunal proceedings to have taken place since have exposed that indiscriminate cull for what it was (PTG 3934-19318, 16 July 2022).


The other team that has lost out are England. When the ECB did finally issue charges, it announced them the day after England’s thrilling Test series victory against New Zealand. Focus should have been on Jonny Bairstow's brilliance but was instead back on Headingley (PTG 3906-19197, 16 June 2022). Stating its “normal practice” was not to identify charged individuals, the names of the seven current and former Yorkshire players in the dock were nevertheless published almost immediately by the journalist who had exposed the full scale of the county’s racism scandal.


It was the ECB’s sharing of this information with whoever leaked the story that was among the triggers for an extraordinary attack on its handling of the case by the club’s last four chairmen, who demanded an independent inquiry into the whole affair. Graves, Steve Denison, Robin Smith and Roger Hutton voiced a litany of concerns over the disciplinary proceedings opened against the club and individuals, including the amount of time the inquiry had taken and the lack of scrutiny over the ECB’s own refusal to investigate almost two years earlier (PTG 3911-19221, 22 June 2022).


Those fears were compounded when it emerged the following day that Rafiq had been treated to corporate hospitality by the governing body during England’s first Test against New Zealand at Lord’s, days before it issued charges over the Yorkshire racism scandal. The stunning revelation saw the governing body accused of a lack of independence and creating the perception of “bias” against those in the dock.


A week later, and hours before the deadline for those charged by the ECB to respond, Andrew Gale sensationally refused to attend the disciplinary hearing into the scandal in a remarkable 3,500-word statement in which he denied “each and every” accusation against him and denounced the “witch hunt” into the case (PTG 3917-19242,30 June 2022). That hearing will take place before the Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC), the quasi-independent body set up by the ECB to adjudicate in such matters.


The format and timing of the proceedings is for the CDC to determine but it is in no-one’s interests for them to take place in October, regardless of whether Rashid and other potential witnesses are ordered to appear in person or simply remotely. With no England or county matches between the end of November and start of February, this would be one delay surely everyone involved would welcome.

31/07

No reason for the decision given but as the BBC are publishing it with a author called Shamoon Hafez, it's all about the inference and the context

Blain suspension

25/07

Scottish racism

29/06

Andrew Gales concerns

23/06

Yorkshire. Another judge, jury and would be executioner piece by you guessed it George Dobell

01/06

Essex chief

24/05

Not content with raking up racism, the BBC now think that on the eve of the start of the counties' Blast competition is a good time to undermine county cricket further with the historic Worcestershire trio's Whatapp group reflections, as horrendous and abhorrent  as they were

Joe Clarke's shame

Can we, and he now move on BBC?

13/05

Lord Patel given air time by BBC

05/05

Again the the BBC use the line "Rafiz said..."

Essex Fined

14/04

Yorkshire set new standards

05/04

You've got to admire front, or is it purposely ironic...

new sponsor

05/04

Anuj Dal's preview

31/03

Yorkshire heel to their master's command

28/03

Michael Vaughan back on the Beeb

24/03

Graves - Yorkshire need to move on 

08/03

Who would touch the former Yorkshire and Derbyshire (and Lincolnshire) player now?

Rafiq Fears click or swipe

09/2/22

Kabir Ali bowling coach

19/01/22

You can't blame Yorkshire, they've opted for the diversity candidate for Head Coach (click or swipe)

Yorkshire to escape relegation despite racism scandal.
Elizabeth Ammon.
The Times.
Wednesday, 12 January 2022.

Yorkshire are expected to escape short-term sanctions for their handling of Azeem Rafiq’s allegations of institutional racism and play in the first division of the County Championship in 2022. An investigation into Yorkshire’s handling of the racism scandal that engulfed cricket at the end of last year is being conducted by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) but is not likely to conclude before the end of February, at the earliest, and will then be followed by disciplinary hearings.

It is also possible that the county will be able to keep their lucrative international fixtures — they are currently suspended from hosting any leading matches — if they can prove to the governing body that they have implemented a number of constitutional and cultural changes by the deadline of “early spring” imposed on them by the ECB.

Sanctions against Yorkshire, including points deductions or relegation, could still be imposed in future years. Yorkshire’s financial situation remains extremely precarious, after they lost most of their leading sponsors after the racism scandal, and they would be plunged further into financial crisis if they were unable to host the Test match and one-day international they are scheduled to this year.

A parliamentary report on cricket’s racism crisis is due to be published on Friday. The cross-party Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee heard evidence from Rafiq in November and has said it will set out its findings this week. Yorkshire, according to their new chairman Kamiesh Patel, have taken measures to “move on from the past and become a culture which is progressive and inclusive” by sacking 16 members of staff, including their entire coaching staff, last month.

The club have also called an extraordinary general meeting at which they will seek agreement on a constitutional change that would ensure the inclusion of two new directors from the general membership on the board of directors for the first time. This week Ryan Sidebottom, who is working on a short-term contract as an assistant coach at Yorkshire, apologised for a "poor choice of words” in explaining how the club should've moved forward from the racism issue.

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Meanwhile, Darren Lehmann has resigned as the Northern Superchargers head coach after only one season with the Hundred franchise based at Headingley with his announcement solving a public-relations headache for the ECB. The 51-year-old’s position had come under scrutiny after the Yorkshire racism scandal given that he was banned for five One Day Internationals in 2003 for using racially abusive language after his dismissal in a game against Sri Lanka, the first such censure under the International Cricket Council’s racial vilification code.. The ECB statement announcing Lehmann’s departure made no reference to that with the former Australia batsman and coach citing uncertainty around travel and quarantine restrictions as a factor in his decision.

Darren Stevens hits back