Yorkshire County Cricket Club Scandal
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- May 1, 2016
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- #127
I seem to remember the Krakouer bros recalling how they reacted to racist jibes. They'd get angry, and they they'd get suspended for overreacting. I see Byron Pickett's record at the tribunal, and I wonder what was said to him from time to time.
It's a bit interesting, the way people react to another's reaction to racism. I mean, we've seen how the AFL public reacted to Goodes; his attitude didn't go down real well, did it? Makes me wonder, do we have them coming and going; do we have them when they don't react, and do we have a way to get them when they do?
Then, I see Azeem Rafiq, and I look at the British class structure. I see a bunch of people even here, reflecting on the "changing demographics", and I wonder when you stop reflecting on the reality of a changing playing group and when you start generalising. Because it's going to happen; we might be five years to a decade behind England, but we've got demographic changes happening before our ******* eyes, and you can either be completely open to the change or you can run the same attitude as the people in charge of Yorkshire and see how that goes.
We have class and race issues all our own here, and those stick without needing further adhesive. Just, this s**t makes me wonder a bit how deep the rot truly runs, and how British cricket still is here.
Used to be, they called some in my club 'bazzas' here. Dunno why. They were treated like a separate group, and while they were never called it to their faces each season significant attention was given to how they would receive the news of what rego was worth, what social they would be required to turn up to, etc. Stopped happening about 3-4 years ago, about 2 years into my stint at committee level, largely due to dropoff from the people who used the term; not much personnel changed, but people stopped using it. Could be that some sri lankan and indians stepped up to be on committee; could also be that I was clearly uncomfortable with it, and I made that discomfort known.
Could also be that the people in my club were from a different time, and those people learned what was and wasn't on a bit sooner than some. I know them, and I wouldn't have hung around if they weren't decent people. But even decent people need their heads read sometimes.
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- May 29, 2013
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Sounds like your club is now in good hands
Plot twist.
Rafiq has just apologised for anti semitic messages he sent a decade or so ago.
Sent from my SM-A326B using BigFooty.com mobile app
Rafiq has just apologised for anti semitic messages he sent a decade or so ago.
Sent from my SM-A326B using BigFooty.com mobile app
He makes a fair point but. If he was still a current player and this came out there would be a crusade to cancel him. It’s easily as bad as what Robinson got done for and he was banned for 8 games
- May 29, 2013
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No excuse for Rafiq’s comments, aside from probably age I guess and I felt more or less the same about the heavy handed punishment handed out to Robinson. That’s not institutionalised though and can be dealt with at an individual level and plainly Rafiq has legitimately looked at his past behaviour and seems fairly ashamed by it.
But is it an individual comment? Balance has alleged that they both traded racist insults in the context of mates hanging s**t on each other but refused to discredit him by outlining what he said. Now it maybe BS but then again you never know.
To be fair if there wasn’t a screen shot he would probably “have no recollection of saying anything of that nature” or just flat out deny it
You or I don’t get to decide that. You can’t judge someone on something that didn’t happen all you can do is judge them on how they actually respond.
If someone accused me of saying something racist 10-15 years ago I’d probably deny it unless shown proof because I don’t think I would have said anything of that nature but I do know that in the past I’ve had prejudices that took a while for me to smarten up enough to lose so it’s just as possible someone could turn around and say ‘here’s proof’ and I’d accept that
But that’s the thing everyone else in this situation it’s just there word against his so it’s easy to say “wasn’t me”. For him there was proof so he had to get on the front foot
Again, you can’t hypothesise what he would have done. Because that situation never arose. Judge him on the mistake, judge him on what has actually transpired in him handling the mistake, not what YOU think he would have done if it wasn’t shown to him.
You can’t try and convict someone for how they might have handled something if things had have been different.
It’s no different to Robinson when something is online people put their hands up to it. It’s a terrible look for him
Of course it is but as I said it’s an individual mistake not something institutionalised so it’s not as much of an issue that needs addressing. He can’t undo it, he’s pretty sincerely apologised and it shows that he’s at some stage been no better than some of the people he’s spoken about. I said of Robinson at the time he was suspended that it was a ridiculous overreaction give his age when it happened.
Guess what? At 18 I was taking coke and pingers and vomiting all over myself every Thursday night at a uni bar. Stuff I’m not proud of and I’m sorry for but I’ve learned a lot since and I wouldn’t expect to be judged solely off my behaviour at that age
Absolutely nothing wrong with what you were doing at 18
- Oct 6, 2011
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By his own definition Rafiq is/was a racist. So a racist calls out racists. Puts a slightly different slant on the story.
he is kidding. If this had been disclosed beforehand how does he think his claims
It is shameful the way today's development has been covered. If it had been a well known white cricketer it would have been headline news, but they have deliberately pushed this back. BBC wheeled out Bose to suggest this didn't undermine his claims. Who does he think would have been received?
Rafiq says there were no no excuses, but then in the next sentence he says he was 19. Excuses, or no excuses? You can't have it both ways. This was on record, but how much was there not on record? He apologised because he had no alternative. He wasn't sorry until the article was disclosed.
He has made fools out of that panel, the news channels, and anyone else who was willing to accept everything he said as gospel.
And the Jewish spokesman seems to have forgiven him unequivocally which is strange! It puts Rafiq in an awkward situation to say the least.
he is kidding. If this had been disclosed beforehand how does he think his claims
It is shameful the way today's development has been covered. If it had been a well known white cricketer it would have been headline news, but they have deliberately pushed this back. BBC wheeled out Bose to suggest this didn't undermine his claims. Who does he think would have been received?
Rafiq says there were no no excuses, but then in the next sentence he says he was 19. Excuses, or no excuses? You can't have it both ways. This was on record, but how much was there not on record? He apologised because he had no alternative. He wasn't sorry until the article was disclosed.
He has made fools out of that panel, the news channels, and anyone else who was willing to accept everything he said as gospel.
And the Jewish spokesman seems to have forgiven him unequivocally which is strange! It puts Rafiq in an awkward situation to say the least.
to1994
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- Jul 8, 2015
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No, an investigation of Yorkshire is obviously necessary and a different problem.
However some consistency is needed. Is Vaughan's joke in 2009 structural racism or just an out of date joke?
I don't think people can have their cake and eat it by accepting Rafiq's apology and moving on but then wanting to hold every individual he has mentioned accountable for a comment or two they made years ago.
- Sep 15, 2011
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If Rafiq has been racist in his own way, he will get his. But this is how it always ******* works. Despite Yorkshire itself admitting it was guilty of a racist culture, people are trying to deflect and protect the institution by attacking the one making the allegations. It's not unheard of for people to be racist against one group while being the victim of racism themselves. It sucks. Bit it doesn't change the allegations.
But it also makes the person a hypocritical sook and not the hero they are getting depicted as
- Sep 15, 2011
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He's neither a 'sook' or a 'hero'. He's a human being. It's not that far removed from people using George Floyd's criminal record as some sort of 'context' for his murder. Two wrongs don't make a right, it's something we learn very early on.
