I have plenty going on – Colin Graves explains not apologising to Azeem Rafiq
Yorkshire chairman Colin Graves told a select committee he had not phoned Azeem Rafiq to apologise for the racism he suffered at the club because he had “plenty of things going on”.
The 76-year-old apologised last month to “anyone who had experienced any form of racism at Yorkshire” during his first spell at the club from 2002 to 2015, at a time when his loan offer to rescue the club and return as chairman was recommended to members by the Yorkshire board.
Graves, whose return as chairman was officially ratified on February 9, was asked by Culture, Media and Sport committee member John Nicolson on Tuesday why he had not phoned former Yorkshire player Rafiq to personally apologise.
🏏We are now questioning incoming Yorkshire CCC Chair Colin Graves, alongside the outgoing Chair Harry Chathli, about his plans for the club following his impending takeover and his approach to tackling racism and discrimination.
Join the session live: https://t.co/bSFAPIyVh0 pic.twitter.com/1beJ7InBKK
— Culture, Media and Sport Committee (@CommonsCMS) February 20, 2024
Rafiq spoke out in the summer of 2020 about the discrimination he suffered across two spells at Yorkshire, and his harrowing testimony to the same select committee in 2021 led to a major overhaul in the county’s leadership and to commitments from the England and Wales Cricket Board to improve diversity across the sport.
Graves did issue an apology to Rafiq during the session, but when asked by Nicolson why he had not called Rafiq, Graves said: “I didn’t feel that was appropriate at the time. I’ve apologised today to Mr Rafiq and anybody else who experienced any discrimination or racism.”
Pressed by Nicolson on why he had not felt it was appropriate, Graves said: “I just have plenty of things going on around not to pick up the phone to Mr Rafiq.”
Nicolson asked whether that meant he was “too busy” to call, to which Graves replied: “No, I did not say I was too busy.”
Rafiq declined to respond to what Graves had told the committee when contacted by the PA news agency, but said last month he did not accept Graves’ general apology.
