Rafiq does not expect Yorkshire trio to apologise

Rafiq,
who
was
found
to
have
suffered
racial
harassment
and
bullying
while
at
Yorkshire,
gave
evidence
in
Tuesday’s
hearing.

He
accused
Yorkshire
and
English
cricket
in
general
of
being
institutionally
racist.

Former
England
head
coach
Lloyd,
who
is
a
leading
commentator
for
Sky
Sports
and
is
commonly
known
by
his
nickname
‘Bumble’,
was
implicated
by
Rafiq,
who
also
made
allegations
against
former
Yorkshire
captain
Gary
Ballance
and
current
head
coach
Andrew
Gale.

The
county’s
director
of
cricket
Martyn
Moxon
was
also
said
to
have
heard
the
abuse,
while
former
chairman
Roger
Hutton
admitted
the
county
failed
to
act
accordingly.

Rafiq
claimed
Lloyd
had
made
offensive
remarks
over
text
message
to
a
third
party,
but
he
claimed
the
commentator
was
the
only
person
to
have
apologised
to
him
directly
since
the
hearing.

Asked
if
Gale,
Ballance
–
who
has
publicly
apologised
for
any
offence
he
caused
–
or
Moxon
had
been
in
touch,
Rafiq
told
Sky
Sports:
“No,
I
don’t
expect
them
to
be.
I
still
don’t
think
any
of
them
think
they’ve
done
anything
wrong.

“It
just
shows
them
for
what
they
are.
The
arrogance
there
and
the
complete
disregard
of
anyone
else
but
themselves
and
their
views.

“A
lot
of
people
have
known.
That’s
why
some
of
the
apologies
–
anyone
who’s
apologised,
I
accept,
that’s
all
I’ve
ever
wanted
–
but
it
does
make
you
think,
you’ve
known
this
for
14
months,
if
you
were
genuinely
sorry,
you
would
have
done
it.
But
anyone
who’s
apologised
deserves
a
second
chance.”

Moxon
is
on
leave
from
Yorkshire
due
to
a
stress-related
issue,
while
Gale
has
been
suspended
pending
an
investigation
into
a
Twitter
exchange
with
a
former
Leeds
United
executive
that
is
alleged
to
have
included
an
anti-Semitic
slur.

Sky
confirmed
on
Tuesday
that
they
would
open
an
investigation
into
the
remarks
attributed
to
Lloyd,
who
also
used
his
official
Twitter
account
to
apologise
to
Rafiq
and
the
Asian
cricket
community.

“He
rang
me
last
night,
I
told
him
honestly
what
I
thought
about
his
comments,”
Rafiq
added.

“They
were
completely
out
of
order.
He
told
me
was
briefed
by
somebody
close
to
the
club,
which
is
disappointing
because
even
that
gentleman
doesn’t
know
me
that
well.

“But
he
rang,
he
apologised,
I
accepted
his
apology
and
he
committed
to
make
a
difference
and
that’s
a
positive.”

Current
England
Test
captain
Joe
Root
was
also
brought
up
in
Tuesday’s
hearing.
Rafiq
said
Root
was
“a
good
man”
and
stressed
the
batsman
had
never
took
part
in
any
abuse.

However,
he
was
concerned
by
Root’s
comment
that
he
had
not
heard
any
racist
language
used
at
Yorkshire.

“Rooty
is
a
good
man
but
it
just
shows
how
bad
that
institution
and
environment
was
that
even
a
good
man
like
him
didn’t
see
it,
didn’t
feel
like
it
was
right
to
stop
it
probably
and
doesn’t
remember
it
probably
because
it
won’t
mean
anything
to
him,”
Rafiq
said.

“The
bystanders
–
from
now
on
–
if
you
continue
to
just
be
bystanders
you’re
as
much
of
a
problem
as
the
guys
who
are
perpetrators.”