Racism allegation against former England cricket captain Vaughan dismissed

Azeem Rafiq came forward in 2020, claiming he had been the target of racial harassment, and other former players were later revealed to have used racist or discriminatory language.

A disciplinary panel cleared former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan on March 31 of uttering a racial slur toward a group of Yorkshire teammates of Asian descent in 2009. This is the most recent development in a scandal that has cast a shadow over the English game.

Azeem Rafiq, a former player at Yorkshire, came out in 2020, claiming he had experienced racial harassment and abuse during two stints at English cricket's most successful club between 2008 and 2018. Several former players were later discovered to have used racist or discriminatory language.

Rafiq accused Vaughan of saying to him and other teammates of Asian ancestry that there were "too many of you lot, we need to have a word about that" on the sidelines of a Twenty20 match. These accusations were heard in a tearful testimony at the British parliament and caused Yorkshire to lose sponsors and temporarily the right to host international matches.

After an independent panel revealed its conclusions from a hearing involving Vaughan and other Yorkshire players accused of historical racial and discriminatory remarks, the England and Wales Cricket Board dropped its allegation against him. Vaughan clearly denied making the remark.

Part of an 82-page judgement covering the entirety of the case read, "The panel is not satisfied on the balance of probabilities that these statements were spoken by MV (Michael Vaughan) at the time and in the precise circumstances indicated.

One of English cricket's most well-known players, Vaughan, who captained his country's Ashes-winning squad in 2005, stated on Twitter that the past few years had been "an very trying era in my life."

This process has occasionally made me so close to losing my love for cricket, ""An inclusive healing process can now begin," he stated, adding that he hopes for English cricket.

Yorkshire, a team in the north of England that is a record 33-time winner of the county championship, later apologized that Rafiq was the victim of "racial harassment and bullying" following Rafiq's allegations of what he called "institutional racism" at the club that left him feeling suicidal in 2020 ".

A probe commissioned by Yorkshire found seven of Rafiq's 43 claims to be true, but the full text of the report was never made public and no one in the club leadership was punished as a result.

The ECB decided to file disrepute charges against seven people as a result, including Vaughan, who had previously been associated with Yorkshire Cricket Club. Furthermore charged was the club.

At the Cricket Discipline Commission hearing in London that started in early March, only Vaughan personally showed up.

The ruling "must not be allowed to deflect from the essential message that there can be no place for racism in the game of cricket, or in society at large," Vaughan said in a statement on Friday.

The findings, according to the CDC, "do not in any way undercut the broader statements made by" Rafiq, "many of which, of course, have been corroborated by the admissions both of YCCC (Yorkshire) and some people."

This was demonstrated by the panel upholding some of the allegations made by the ECB against the other former Yorkshire players, Tim Bresnan, Matthew Hoggard, Andrew Gale, Richard Pyrah, and John Blain, who were accused of using racial and/or discriminatory language while playing for the club. They have 14 days to appeal the CDC ruling after being found guilty of violating an ECB rule addressing behavior that was detrimental to cricket and brought the sport into shame.

Former England hitter Gary Ballance already acknowledged the allegations made against him.

The imposition of sanctions will happen later.

Rafiq responded to the panel's findings on Twitter by pointing out that seven of the eight defendants had their charges upheld and that earlier investigations had revealed he had experienced racial harassment and bullying at Yorkshire.

The problem has never been with specific players, but with the game itself, he claimed. "Cricket must recognize the scope of its issues and take action.

"It's time to think, learn, and make changes; hopefully, the structures of the game can now be rebuilt and institutionalized racism put an end to once and for all.

The controversy caused English cricket to undergo a great deal of introspection, particularly regarding its history of inclusivity and its locker-room atmosphere. It also resulted in a significant change in Yorkshire's leadership.

It was reinstituted as an international venue following a number of reforms and the replacement of individuals in significant positions at the club.

Improving boardroom diversity was one of the objectives, along with assisting people from diverse backgrounds progress into professional teams. The ECB established an anti-discrimination unit in the wake of the scandal, reviewed the dressing-room culture across England men's and women's teams, and made a financial commitment of 25 million pounds (then $33.3 million) over five years to support actions improving equality, diversity, and inclusion.

Rafiq "revealed a part of our game which no one should have to experience," according to ECB chairman Richard Thompson.

According to Thompson, "given the nature of these cases, they have clearly taken a toll on everyone involved. There now needs to be a period of reconciliation where, as a game, we can all come together to learn from the mistakes, mend the wounds, and make sure that nothing similar ever occurs again."