Keir Starmer calls for full review into racism scandal: "Let this be the issue that cleans up racism in cricket"

The day before Azeem Rafiq is scheduled to give testimony to a parliamentary committee on what transpired at Yorkshire, Starmer said that a root and branch review of racism in cricket is necessary, and "the sooner the better"

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called for the racism scandal engulfing cricket to be a tipping point for the way in which discrimination is dealt with by English sport. 

As the fallout to Yorkshire’s treatment of Azeem Rafiq continues, several current and former players have felt empowered to speak about their experiences of racial abuse.

And the day before Rafiq is scheduled to give testimony to a parliamentary committee on what transpired at Yorkshire, Starmer said that a root and branch review of racism in cricket is necessary, and “the sooner the better”.

“There is absolutely no place for racism in any sport, that includes cricket, and that means that when there are examples there have got to be clear sanctions,” he told LBC.

^{Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer}

“The double problem here, at the very least, was no real sanctions and this passing off of racial slurs as banter, which is completely unacceptable.

“Let this be the issue that cleans up racism in cricket, or in any other sport for that matter.”

Starmer follows a former Labour sports minister in calling for an independent inquiry into what has happened at Yorkshire and further afield - Essex are currently dealing with three allegations of racist remarks, while the club's former chairman John Faragher resigned last week as a result of a claim he used a derogatory term in a 2017 board meeting.

Richard Caborn, sports minister between 2000 and 2007, told The Cricketer: "The solution to it is a thorough review and a completely independent inquiry into institutional racism. 

"We need to bring about a fundamental change to make the club fit for purpose again."

On Monday, Adil Rashid confirmed to The Cricketer that he heard the remark Rafiq alleged former England captain Michael Vaughan to have said to a group of four players of Asian heritage during a match between Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire in 2009. 

In his evidence to Yorkshire’s initial investigation into his claims, Rafiq alleged that Vaughan had said to him, Rashid, Rana Naved ul-Hasan and Ajmal Shahzad: "There are too many of you lot; we need to do something about it."

Sir Keir Starmer condemns Yorkshire County Cricket Club for how they responded to Azeem Rafiq's allegations and supports a “root and branch review” of racism in the sport.#CallKeir | @NickFerrariLBC | Watch live: https://t.co/byAFNEFZJu pic.twitter.com/Wm4uqGWnFq

— LBC (@LBC) November 15, 2021

Vaughan denies the allegations.

The claim was one of dozens made by Rafiq in the initial report, which has still yet to be released in its entirety by Yorkshire. 

Starmer criticised the county for the way in which they dealt with the situation.

“Yorkshire looked into it and, I think, got it completely wrong,” he said.

“Firstly, they didn’t really sanction anybody and, secondly, they said that some of the words - the racial slurs that had been used - were just banter. [That is] completely wrong.

“Unsurprisingly the cricket authorities have banned Yorkshire from holding international games, so there has been some progress but not enough. I would like to see them go much, much further.”

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