Former Yorkshire cricketer Azeem Rafiq had accused Michael Vaughan of a racial comment against him. The former England captain has now responded to Rafiq’s claims and has completely denied the charges. In his column in the Telegraph, Vaughan has stated that these allegations were a shock to him. It was like being struck over the head with a brick, the cricketer feels. Vaughan further stated that he has been involved in cricket for 30 years and has never once been accused of any remotely similar incident or disciplinary offence as a player or commentator.
According to the former right-arm batter,the allegation came completely out of the blue and more than a decade after it was alleged to have happened, which made it all the more difficult to process. As per Vaughan’s column, Rafiq had complained that in 2009, before a game between Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire, Vaughan had said to Rafiq and two other Asian players as they were entering the field together that there are ‘too many of you lot, we need to do something about it’.
Vaughan completely and categorically denied ever using those words. He said that he was ‘gobsmacked’ learning about the allegations in December 2020, when he was asked to appear before an independent panel formed by Yorkshire.
While the cricketer-turned commentator said that he empathized with the discrimination Rafiq had to suffer, he clearly stated that any allegation of discrimination against him is completely untrue and he will fight to the end till he proves that he is not that person.
Before this, former England Test cricketer Gary Balance was banned from selection by the ECB because of his confession of using racial comments against Rafiq, who was also playing for Yorkshire along with him. His admission is recorded in an investigation report.
Due to this investigation, the board has also suspended Yorkshire from hosting international matches indefinitely.
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