Azeem Rafiq warns Yorkshire his story of enduring racism and bullying will be 'told to the world'

London: Azeem Rafiq warned Yorkshire on Monday that his racism allegations against his former English county team will be “told to the world”. Yorkshire last week released the findings of an independent panel report sparked by Rafiq’s allegations of racism and bullying. The panel’s report upheld seven of Rafiq’s 43 allegations, and found there was “no question” he was subjected to racial harassment and bullying during his time at Yorkshire. However, it said there was insufficient evidence to find the club were institutionally racist. [caption id=“attachment_8787601” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  File image of Azeem Rafiq. AFP[/caption] On Monday, Rafiq appeared to hint he would not continue the dispute but not before sharing details of the allegations he made. In a Twitter post, he wrote: “I always said to the leaders in our game their (sic) will be a point/morning where I wake when I just can’t take it anymore. “Not taking it anymore won’t mean I will leave it and walk away. It will purely mean everything that has happened to date — from people being dishonest about what took place in return for positions/jobs, to attempts to create evidence — will be told to the world and let them decide whether YCCC is institutionally racist.” Rafiq joined Yorkshire in 2002 and played for them in two spells from 2008 to 2014 and then 2016 to 2018. The report found he not been provided with halal food at matches, something which has now been rectified for other players. It found there were three instances of racist language used prior to 2010 which amounted to harassment on the grounds of race, while before 2012 a former coach “regularly used racist language”.

My feelings below while I understand the statement/report & respond 🤲🏽🤲🏽 pic.twitter.com/6DZ1OjVooG

— Azeem Rafiq (@AzeemRafiq30) September 13, 2021

During his second spell at Yorkshire, jokes around religion were made which left individuals feeling uncomfortable, the report found, and a reference was made to Rafiq’s weight and fitness which amounted to bullying. The report also accepted the club had failed to follow up on allegations Rafiq made in 2018. Despite those issues, the report found that all decisions made concerning Rafiq’s selection and ultimate release from the club were entirely based on cricketing reasons. “I feel lucky to be alive but I won’t test my resolve any longer,” Rafiq tweeted. “For all you people who are victims of racist abuse or any type of discrimination I have tried my upmost best to give you all a voice but unfortunately the system just wants to choke us and finds allies and money to do that.”