One Muslim player complained of being made to feel uncomfortable about the laddish drinking culture at the club.
The long and ugly catalogue of allegations range from being called 'P***s,' 'elephant washers' and 'sheikhs' by team-mates and coaches, to being told they 'stink' and should 'go back to where they came from' on a daily basis, to finding themselves the subject of off-colour jokes. The club has been banned from staging major matches by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), the British game's governing body, while its culture and values were dubbed 'repellent and disturbing' by senior politicians.Īt the centre of the public outrage are claims that a former player, Azeem Rafiq, and several Asian colleagues suffered serious – and, they say, institutional – racist abuse during their recent careers at the club. Recent days have seen Yorkshire ostracised by cricket's establishment, attacked by commentators, pundits and thousands of fans, and dropped by sponsors (including Tetley brewery, Nike, Yorkshire Tea and Emerald Publishing, which has 'naming rights' to the aforementioned stand). To blame is a toxic dispute which has thrown England's most successful and iconic county side into chaos. And the Emerald Stand, where rowdy supporters wear fancy dress, may no longer even be called the Emerald Stand. The final stages of major domestic tournaments will no longer be settled by bowlers roaring in from the Kirkstall Lane end. There will, as things stand, be no Test match or one-day internationals played in white rose country. Yet next summer, our national side is set to give this corner of Leeds a wide berth. The home of Yorkshire for most of its 158 years, the place is steeped in sporting folklore: The scene of Stokes and Botham's Ashes, stomping ground of Boycott, Trueman and Illingworth, and home to more Test players (and county champions) than anywhere else in the land.
To the ruddy-faced fans who pack its beery stands each summer, Headingley is the beating heart of English cricket.
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