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*Official* Yorkshire CCC racism crisis thread

Red_Ink_Squid

Red_Ink_Squid

Cricketer Of The Year
StephenZA said:
I am more surprised by the fact people are surprised by this. To a greater or lesser extent I've observed this behaviour in the work place while in England. And my little interaction and understanding was it is all pretty rife in the sporting clubs. And I know that SA it is no better, even though people are meant to be far more aware here. I will be very surprised to find that this is not common everywhere in places that have historical British/European backgrounds. Whatever we may pretend.
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I think the way Yorkshire apparently tried to deny and bury the accusations is surprising. You're right that most of the 'on-the-ground' behaviours reported (the racist language, bullying, segregation, even the wine incident) are sadly not surprising at all, even if they are thoroughly depressing to see listed out.

I would have expected unequivocal condemnation of the behaviour at Corporate level though, a public apology on behalf of the club and some sort of diversity initiative launched, even just for cynical PR purposes if nothing else. The fact that the YCCC hierarchy seemed to dig trenches, take side firmly against Rafiq and play down the allegations is pretty shocking. As someone said further back in the thread, they could probably have got away without much press or backlash if they'd handled things that way, so it's perhaps a good thing they didn't as it's brought this case much more prominently into the spotlight.

One can only hope that this leads to a genuine shake up of dressing room culture at least in the Counties and that some positive changes can filter through into sports clubs and youth teams downstream from that.
 
duffer

duffer

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
I really can't comprehend Bumble's dressing room comment. It depresses me as much as anything that's been revealed
 
J

JOJOXI

International Vice-Captain
Red_Ink_Squid said:
I think the way Yorkshire apparently tried to deny and bury the accusations is surprising. You're right that most of the 'on-the-ground' behaviours reported (the racist language, bullying, segregation, even the wine incident) are sadly not surprising at all, even if they are thoroughly depressing to see listed out.

I would have expected unequivocal condemnation of the behaviour at Corporate level though, a public apology on behalf of the club and some sort of diversity initiative launched, even just for cynical PR purposes if nothing else. The fact that the YCCC hierarchy seemed to dig trenches, take side firmly against Rafiq and play down the allegations is pretty shocking. As someone said further back in the thread, they could probably have got away without much press or backlash if they'd handled things that way, so it's perhaps a good thing they didn't as it's brought this case much more prominently into the spotlight.

One can only hope that this leads to a genuine shake up of dressing room culture at least in the Counties and that some positive changes can filter through into sports clubs and youth teams downstream from that.
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I'm not surprised they tried to bury the accusations but yeah once they became in the public eye I am surprised there wasn't more cynical PR moves.
 
Red_Ink_Squid

Red_Ink_Squid

Cricketer Of The Year
cnerd123 said:
I've never even heard of teenagers forcing alcohol down the throat of a Muslim 15 year old. That's shocking. Surely labeling it "not surprising at all" is exaggerated.
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Just to clarify, I don't mean to say that that sort of behaviour is common place or tolerated in the UK (I've never witnessed anything like that) but its definitely believable to me. I've known people who are either overtly racist, or general bullies, or both that I could see actually finding something like that funny. I've known of sports clubs where I could believe something like that could happen.
 
duffer

duffer

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
kevinw said:
Although he comes across as an affable buffoon on Sky Sports, he has a history of candid talk that could easily stray into dodgy territory.
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It's not that it's him that got me, it's what he said that just hit like a tonne of bricks
 
Furball

Furball

Evil Scotsman
cnerd123 said:
Ftr I'm shocked both by Yorkshire's coverup and the actual events listed

I've never even heard of teenagers forcing alcohol down the throat of a Muslim 15 year old. That's shocking. Surely labeling it "not surprising at all" is exaggerated.
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It's exactly the sort of 'banter' I could believe happens in a sporting dressing room.

edit: for context the sort of bullying behaviour wouldn't necessarily have overt racism as the reason it happened, although the incident in question was likely to have been motivated by it. I would expect the same treatment to be dished out at a rugby club to someone who was teetotal for example.
 
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0

_00_deathscar

International Regular
cnerd123 said:
I've never even heard of teenagers forcing alcohol down the throat of a Muslim 15 year old. That's shocking. Surely labeling it "not surprising at all" is exaggerated.
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Have you heard the rugby stories? And that's almost entirely a bunch of white people. There's the bullying element/angle to it.
Now imagine the things they do to 'races they don't like' (whether it's more subconscious because of upbringing or not).
 
Furball

Furball

Evil Scotsman
duffer said:
He says that after speaking on national TV, there were "high profile" media people "messaging other members of the media who have supported me, saying stuff like 'well, a clubhouse is the lifeblood of a club, and Asian players don't go in there."
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BTW I'm fairly certain that this quote would be in reference to the old school drinking culture that would be attached to a lot of sports clubs in the UK. For small cricket clubs at a level way below County level, the bar and the club as a social meeting place is literally how the club survives financially.

Again, Asians not going there isn't because there's a 'whites only' clubhouse policy you'd find in 1970s South Africa, but because it wouldn't be the cultural norm amongst British Asians (certainly not those who were raised Muslim.) It goes back to the point I made earlier about cultural differences being the reason I lost touch with a lot of childhood Muslim friends because (understandably) going out to the pub on a Thursday night wasn't their idea of fun when they weren't going to be partaking.
 
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