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I believe the simple truth is a concocted tale of racism, reaching back 12 years with the intention of settling old scores and extorting money. Can I prove it - no more than Azeen Rafiq can prove racism against Michael Vaughan, it is my considered opinion. Much of Rafiq's testimony, given free rein by a ridiculously compliant media, has been undermined by evidence of his own racism, his gambling debts, his alcohol indulgence and his business association with his main corroborator. This does not appear to be the man portraying himself to a drooling media as a paragon of virtue, whose career had been thwarted by virulent institutional racism - enough doubt has been cast on his character to also doubt his accusations against Vaughan.

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Some of the other arguments used against Rafiq just don't stand up.   

 

1.  Just because Rafiq himself has made mistakes and indulged in behaviours that have been rightly condemned, it doesn't mean that his lived experiences are any less valid.  


2. Why did he wait so many years?  

 

Institutional racism has pretty much been confirmed by a number of individuals in Yorkshire and throughout the game.  It was normal and Rafiq appears to have been a victim of this.   Whistleblowing is protected by law for a reason.  But even then, it doesn't make it any easier on those who are brave enough to stand up and say that it isn't right.

 

3.  He's in it to settle scores

 

If you were the victim of abuse, wouldn't you want that to be acknowledged and for justice to be done?

 

4.  He's in it to make money

 

Its an odd one tbh.  He might write a book, I guess, but that isn't guaranteed and is unlikely to change his life meaningfully.  And for every opportunity like that, he will likely lose many others.

 

The stuff with Michael Vaughan is different.  I noted that he has apologised to Rafiq but stopped short of admitting racist behaviour.  I agreed with Monty Panesar that it goes against natural justice to condemn the man before any allegations are tested properly.  I myself have been a Vaughan fan since his playing days and I enjoy his commentary on the game.   I don't see him as a racist man, but I also think he was involved in dressing rooms where there seemed to have been a culture where it was normal and accepted to use racist tropes routinely.  He and others have become guilty by association in some ways, though the wide range of characters who have been mentioned at all levels of the game, it does rather point to there having been a deep-rooted problem that deserved to be highlighed and addressed properly.

 

And thats why the handling of this case by Yorkshire CCC has been rightly questioned and many of the senior people there having suffered the consequences of its failure in its duty of care.  I also note that Scottish Cricket has its own issues raised via Majid Haq and others.

 

The very fact that this made it all the way to DCMS parliamentary committee tells its own story of a reluctance by those in power to acknowledge failings.

 

However, I expect some will continue to reach for any excuse to ignore whats in front of them.

 

 

 

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If Yorkshire CCC were truly “racist”, players of Asian heritage would never have got onto the staff. It’s not that long ago Lancastrians (and everyone else, for that matter) weren’t admitted either.

 

”Racism” is surely at best, the exploitation or the exclusion of others by reason of their race alone or, at worst, advocating and procuring extinction of another race. Anything else aimed out of spite at a person of another race is offensive which isn’t very nice but “niceness” can’t be brought about by legislation, still less by prosecution.

 

Let’s assume Vaughan, whom I admired as a batsman but don’t rate highly as a commentator, said all the things libelled. Does that make him “racist”? Of course not.

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The treatment of Vaughan and Rafiq is clearly a double standard.

 

This from the Spectator.

 

 After dropping Michael Vaughan in punishment for what he said (or might not have said) many years ago, the BBC has now given him the chance to explain himself. It took the form of Dan Walker, a BBC1 Breakfast host, confronting the accused with examples of his wrongthink and hearing his defence. That defence is pretty academic now, given that Vaughan has already been dropped from covering the Ashes this winter and may now disappear from the screens entirely. But it has given us an example of what may now lie ahead in the cancel culture we are adopting. Ten years after the Tweets comes the outrage. Then the cancellation. Then, last of all, the show trial.

 

It was unpleasant seeing Vaughan, a former England cricket captain, squirming on the hook as Walker went through the charge sheet. The moralising was worse. Walker read out a series of old tweets that Michael Vaughan had posted years before: 'The old tweets of yours that have been doing the rounds for the last few weeks from 2010…you said, 'not many English people live in London; I need to learn a new language', and you also said why, when you ring 118, are all the people foreign; can’t make head or tail of what they’re saying'. Poor Walker, he was plainly pained even to read this stuff.

 

As to the substance of those first two observations: in the first place, they were made some time ago. Azeem Rafiq, who made the allegations of racism against Vaughan was let off lightly when some off-colour remarks of his own some years ago on social media about Jews were released – every commentator hastened to observe that these were 'historic' and therefore excusable. Certainly; but in that case, why – as Piers Morgan pointed out – the double standards on Vaughan? (Who, for the record, did not mention Rafiq’s own misdeeds.)

 

The interview left us wondering: what did Vaughan say that was wrong? That bit about London not having many English people – it is in some ways a statement of the obvious and the last person I heard saying it was my Albanian mother in law from Kosovo. London is diverse, which is the positive way of looking at it, or full of foreigners, which is the other take; either way, it happens to be true. 

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16 minutes ago, Scott7 said:

If Yorkshire CCC were truly “racist”, players of Asian heritage would never have got onto the staff. It’s not that long ago Lancastrians (and everyone else, for that matter) weren’t admitted either.

 

”Racism” is surely at best, the exploitation or the exclusion of others by reason of their race alone or, at worst, advocating and procuring extinction of another race. Anything else aimed out of spite at a person of another race is offensive which isn’t very nice but “niceness” can’t be brought about by legislation, still less by prosecution.

 

Let’s assume Vaughan, whom I admired as a batsman but don’t rate highly as a commentator, said all the things libelled. Does that make him “racist”? Of course not.

Again, some obscure logic.  It’s possible for players of Asian heritage to be part of the club but also for there to be a culture of institutional racism.  Their chairman/former chairman who gave evidence at the DCMS meeting admitted as such, albeit reluctantly. 
 

 

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Seems to me the case for racism at Yorkshire is only weakened by these strangely intense attempts to justify Rafiq’s outpourings. If his tales had real substance, surely they would speak for themselves. The desperation for racism to be real is little more than a defence of personal prejudice. 

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1 hour ago, Bill said:

Seems to me the case for racism at Yorkshire is only weakened by these strangely intense attempts to justify Rafiq’s outpourings. If his tales had real substance, surely they would speak for themselves. The desperation for racism to be real is little more than a defence of personal prejudice. 

No it isn't. 

 

They do.

 

Nope, thats your prejudice.

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