Joe Root: We have to find a way of confronting racism

The England captain – a former teammate of Azeem Rafiq – has mostly remained quiet on the racism scandal engulfing Yorkshire but put out a statement and took questions in a press conference on Thursday morning

Joe Root has condemned the racism scandal engulfing Yorkshire, his home county, saying it has “fractured our game and torn lives apart”.

The England captain – a former teammate of Azeem Rafiq – has mostly remained quiet on the subject but put out a statement and took questions in a press conference on Thursday morning.

He said: “I’ve spent a long time reflecting on what has happened. I think more than anything, it’s really important that we recognise what has happened and we make sure that moving forward we never see this happen again – whether it’s at Yorkshire or in club cricket or out in the street. We have to find a way of confronting this, of stopping this and making sure absolutely we are getting rid of racism from society.”

Last week, Yorkshire were suspended from hosting international cricket, while Gary Ballance – a former housemate of Root – and ex-England captain Michael Vaughan both revealed that their names feature in the county’s report that followed a protracted investigation into Rafiq’s allegations.

Rafiq, 30, played for Yorkshire across two separate spells between 2008 and 2018. Last summer, he accused the county of “institutional racism”.

Root said that the situation had not made him consider his future at the county but that he was keen to speak to Lord Patel, who has replaced Roger Hutton as the club’s chairman, “about how I can help move things forward”.

^{Lord Patel spoke for the first time as Yorkshire's new chairman on Monday}

He explained: “In terms of my position, if you’re not at the club, how can you make any change? How can you help to move things forward?

“The thing that’s really disappointing is that this has happened; we need to find a way to move forward. We have to look at finding a way to educate as much as we can. These are hard learnings that we can eradicate from the sport and make sure that, moving forward as a county, we really can make a difference in this area.

“You look at the work that the current England teams have been doing for the last few years; it’s something we care deeply about, we’re passionate about and we really want to make a difference in. This shouldn’t just apply to Yorkshire, this should apply across the game. Every county should be looking to find ways to eradicate racism from the sport. I think it’s really important that we look to do that.”

Yorkshire have agreed to settle Rafiq's employment tribunal claim, scrapping the previous requirement for a non-disclosure agreement which would have prevented Rafiq from telling his story, while Lord Patel revealed that he had spent more than six hours speaking with the former White Rose player about his experiences at the club.

Since then, head coach Andrew Gale has been suspended, pending an investigation into a historic anti-Semitic tweet.

Yorkshire have also confirmed that the full report into the allegations made by Rafiq which included 29 interviews with 26 witnesses will be re-sent to the DCMS select committee after Julian Knight MP claimed not to have received the document.

^{Azeem Rafiq has called for director of cricket Martyn Moxon and chief executive Mark Arthur to step down}

Patel has pledged to give those with a “legal interest” in the report access to the findings. Rafiq is set to give evidence to the committee on November 16.

A whistleblowing hotline to allow a safe space for players to report incidents of discrimination is set to be open by the end of the week. The club has also backed the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket's ‘Call For Evidence’.

In his statement, Root added: “I just want the sport to be a place where everyone is enjoying it for the beautiful game it is and feels equal and safe. It hurts knowing this has happened at YCCC so close to home. It’s my club that I care passionately about it. I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting. There is no debate about racism, no one side or other. It is simply intolerable.

“These events have fractured our game and torn lives apart. We must now recover and come back together as fans, players, media, and those who work within cricket. We have an opportunity to make the sport I love better for everyone.

“I want to see change and actions that will see YCCC rise from this with a culture that harnesses a diverse environment with trust across all communities that support cricket in the county.

“That being said, we, as a sport, all have to do more. How can we all help shape things moving forward positively? What can everyone from myself, the ECB, counties, players, officials and others in the sport do to improve the state of the game? I certainly don’t have all the answers, but I think we need to educate more and earlier; we must call it out straight away and have our eyes and ears open more.”

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