Former Yorkshire cricketer Azim Rafiq shed tears and revealed some horrific incidents to British lawmakers on Tuesday while playing cricket in England. One of them was when red wine was forcefully poured into his throat after he was pinned down once. This came to the fore during his early playing days at a local club when he was 15 years old. He said it was done by a former Yorkshire and Hampshire player.
“I was pinned at my local cricket club and had red wine poured down my throat, literally down my throat. Players played for Yorkshire and Hampshire. I [then] Didn’t touch alcohol until about 2012 and around that time I felt I had to do it to get fit. I was not perfect, there are some things that I felt I had to do to achieve my dreams. I deeply regret it but it has nothing to do with racism,” Rafiq said.
The off-spinner, who moved to Britain from Pakistan in 2001 and played in a total of 39 first-class games, taking 72 wickets, has said that England players Alex Hales and Gary Balance would refer to the colored cricketer as ‘Kevin’. According to The Guardian on Tuesday, the former even named her dog ‘Kevin’ because he was black.
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“There were comments like, ‘You sit near the toilet’, ‘hand wash’,” Rafiq alleged. “The word Paki was used continuously. And it seemed that there was an acceptance in the institution from the leaders and not one stamped on it.”
Rafiq’s remarks come days after former England captain Michael Vaughan explicitly denied racist involvement in Yorkshire, following Rafiq’s explosive press conference where he exposed an incident involving Vaughan.
Rafik alleged that Vaughan said “there were too many of you guys, we need to do something about it” before a game in 2009. However, Vaughan has denied this.
Read also | Tim Bresnan apologizes to Azeem Rafiq for bullying but denies racism claim
The off-spinner also said that he had to take medication to deal with the mental trauma caused by the constant racial abuse. He said that this issue is not only in Yorkshire, but is pervasive throughout England.
“I have messages from people who play in Leicestershire, people who play in Middlesex, people who play in Nottinghamshire,” he said.
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