Cricketer Rafiq Opens About Racism In Yorkshire

Brut India

"You lot sit over there, near the toilets." Former England cricketer Azeem Rafiq told British lawmakers how he lost his career to racism.  TW: Distressing comments and racial slurs.

Transcript

00:00Steve, so I, once I left the club, Chideshwar Bajara joined the club and Jack Brooks I think

00:09started it where he didn't feel the need to call him by his first name. There is an interview

00:14with Chideshwar where he said I'd prefer them not to.

00:17We had a really difficult pregnancy and through that time the treatment that I received from

00:26some of the club officials were inhuman, they weren't really bothered about the fact

00:35that I was at training one day and I get a phone call. So there's no heartbeat.

00:56Pretty early on, me and other people from an Asian background,

01:25there was comments such as you lot sit over there near the toilets, elephant washers,

01:31the word paki was used constantly and there just seems to be an acceptance in the institution from

01:39the leaders and no one, no one ever stamped it out. You know he's a paki or he's not a sheikh,

01:46he's got no oil and this happened in front of teammates, it happened in front of coaching

01:52staff. We were on a bus trip in London to Surrey game and we went past a couple of men with beard

01:58and it was like oh is that your dad if we go past a corner shop or does your uncle own this?

02:03Steve, so once I left the club, Chileshwar Bajara joined the club and Jack Brooks I think started

02:29it where he didn't feel the need to call him by his first name. There is an interview with Chileshwar

02:35where he said I'd prefer them not to but not only did Jack, the coaches, everyone else, the media,

02:43Yorkshire Post, the Yorkshire website, the Yorkshire Twitter page, everyone called him that,

02:51commentators around the world, some high-profile people. It just shows again back to what the

02:58institutional feelings and what that environment showed people and how they could behave.

03:20Kevin was something Gary used to describe everyone of colour in a very derogatory manner,

03:27whether that be publicly, whether that be within the dressing room, whether that be opposition.

03:32This is an open secret within the England dressing room. Anyone that's come across Gary

03:38would know that that's the phrase he used to describe people of colour. It was used in a

03:42derogatory manner all the time. Everyone's known it for a very long time. I think it's been an

03:56open secret. It's been, as I've seen over the last 15 months, if you speak out your life's

04:04going to be made hell and there's no doubt my life. I sat in front of national TV and talked

04:10about the dark places this whole episode got me into and what's happened since then. Denial,

04:18briefings, cover-ups, smearing, high-profile media, media people messaging other members

04:26of the media who have supported me saying stuff like, well, the clubhouse is the life

04:33blood of a club and Asian players don't go in there.

04:37Getting subs out of Asian players is like getting blood out of stone.

04:48I was encouraged to sign a confidentiality form and take a sum of money, which I refused,

04:54which at that time would have been a lot of money for me. I knew my wife was struggling.

04:59I knew I was struggling. There was no way mentally I could have even considered putting

05:05myself through this trauma. I actually left the country. I went to Pakistan. I never wanted to

05:12come back. I know that the pain that I went through for that few months, no one could ever,

05:20ever put me through that pain again.

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