Rafiq: Have Yorkshire punished guilty parties?

Azeem Rafiq has vowed to continue his fight with Yorkshire after questioning whether punishments were given to former players or a coach found to have used racist language.

Rafiq issued a lengthy response on Thursday to the summary of a report on allegations of racism released by the county in September.

An investigation upheld seven of 43 allegations brought by Rafiq, but the summary stated that it had been unable to prove or disprove his claims of institutionalised racism due to insufficient evidence.

Yorkshire said they were unable to release the full report for legal reasons but Thursday’s statement, released by Rafiq’s spokesperson, included another demand for it to be published.

Among the key points raised in the statement was the issue of punishment over those allegations which were upheld.

It read: “What punishment has been imposed on these individuals? If none, what disciplinary steps have been taken?

“Is it not the club’s duty to name them? What message does this send to younger players at Yorkshire and elsewhere if players face no consequences for their conduct?”

Thursday’s statement also contained multiple questions about the investigation itself and asked why only a summary of the results was made available to Rafiq and his team.

“The investigation has lacked transparency and due process. The initial composition of the ‘independent’ panel was clearly flawed,” it continued.

“The summary was provided, in effect, by the defendant – Yorkshire. Azeem has not been allowed to see the report, comment or respond.

“We have serious concerns about whether Yorkshire can sensibly reject a finding of institutional racism in view of the sheer number of allegations. Without sight of the full report, however, we are not in a position to identify and challenge the conclusions reached in respect of this finding.”

Sky Sports News has contacted Yorkshire for a response.