I Lost My Career To Institutional Racism: British-Pakistani Cricketer Tells UK Parliament

Former English County Yorkshire cricketer Azeem Rafiq has revealed that he and other cricketers with Pakistani roots have been discriminated against several times during his club career. Rafiq named nine well-known cricketers and officials in the racism-related revelations.

Rafiq gave his testimony in the British parliamentary committee room of the digital, culture, media, and sport select committee on Tuesday. During the nearly 2 hours long sitting, Azeem noted several incidents of ‘institutional racism’ in England Cricket.

Azeem shocked the committee by stating that at the age of 15, he was forced to drink alcohol, then in 2012, he was forced to start drinking in order to ‘hang out’ with his fellow but British cricketers. He also spoke about his son who was still-born in 2017 while trying to fight his tears.

“They weren’t really bothered about the fact that I was at training one day and I get a phone call to say there’s no heartbeat,” he said.

The 30-year-old off-spinner maintained that he lost his career to racism. He said that he and other people from an Asian background were told to “sit over near the toilets.” They were also subjected to racist remarks like “Paki” and “elephant-washers” frequently.

Rafiq has named 9 British cricketers and accused them of racially targeting Asian players. Former England captain Michael Vaughan allegedly told four Asian cricketers, “There are too many of you lot, we need to do something about it.”

Gary Ballance, Alex Hales, David Lloyd, Matthew Hoggard, Andrew Gale, and Martyn Moxon are among other named cricketers and officials named by Azeem Rafiq. He also stated that England Test captain Joe Root, who has spent his career at Yorkshire, doesn’t recall any racist remarks because it is too “normalized” to be noticed.

Azeem’s racism revelations have created turbulence in England cricket. He has also initiated the first British-Pakistani-led anti-racism campaign. Azeem says that “the game needs to listen to a lot of people who have suffered” before he moves on.

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