GEORGE DOBELL: The former chair has expressed "no confidence" in the committee and suggested the club may claim some form of damages against it in a remarkably robust reply to to committee chief Julian Knight
Robin Smith, the former chair of Yorkshire, has accused the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee of "improper behaviour", and suggested they pre-judged evidence in the Azeem Rafiq case to presume the club's guilt.
Smith, who on Wednesday (March 16) had been asked to explain his suggestion that "unlawful pressure" had been placed on the ECB to sanction Yorkshire by the DCMS committee, also expressed "no confidence" in the panel of MPs and suggested the club may claim some form of damages against it.
In a remarkably robust reply to DCMS chair Julian Knight, Smith reiterated his accusation of "unlawful interference" against the committee.
He added that the manner in which Knight had "made up [his] mind before Azeem Rafiq had given his evidence" had "badly undermined my confidence in the whole process and called "into question for me your committee's whole purpose."
"I do recognise improper behaviour when I see it," Smith wrote. "My information is that the DCMS pressured the ECB to sanction YCCC in the wake of Azeem Rafiq's allegations by threatening to determine that the ECB was not a fit and proper governing body for cricket.
"This no doubt came as something of an existential body-blow for ECB. There was no request for the ECB to conduct an enquiry; indeed, its formal enquiry is even now still incomplete.
"It was also before your committee had commenced its hearings. The proper course for you to follow would have been to require the ECB to conduct a full enquiry, and only when it had done so, and only after you had carefully considered all the findings, to request the ECB to impose an appropriate sanction on YCCC.
Current Yorkshire chair Kamlesh Patel's attempts to enact change are under threat (Oli Scarff/Getty Images)
"As it is, the ECB were panicked into promptly adopting your required sanction, namely YCCC’s immediate suspension from staging international cricket, in breach of its contractual and other obligations owed to YCCC.
"This constituted an unlawful interference in contractual relations whereby a breach of contract was procured, one which has already caused grave financial damage to YCCC. I would expect the YCCC board in due course to claim an indemnity in respect of this damage from those responsible.”
Smith, it might be noted, was Yorkshire chair when Azeem Rafiq and Adil Rashid first made their complaints about racism at the club. The club at the time decided not to investigate on the basis that it might endanger Azeem's mental health, following what Smith later claimed was a request by the player.
This perceived inaction was criticised in the report Yorkshire commissioned into the episode. The club's notes of the meeting where Azeem outlined his concerns, which have been seen by The Cricketer, were also not disclosed to the investigating team.
Perhaps the most pointed part of the letter, however, comes when Smith questions whether the accusations laid against Yorkshire "really amount to a sufficient reason" to suspend them from hosting international cricket.
"Thus far, the only enquiry to have reported is that procured by the club from Squire Patton Boggs, which found seven out of 43 allegations substantiated," wrote Smith.
"Of those, three referred to a period before 2012, two related to unacceptable dressing-room jokes about religion and about weight and fitness, one was the club's failure to investigate Azeem Rafiq’s complaint in 2018, and one was of a number of occasions when Muslims should have been made more welcome and when the club's response to complaints of racist and anti-social behaviour in the crowd should have been better.
"In the interests of securing a fuller understanding of the issues on the part of the DCMS, which would be much more readily achieved without the distortions of television and publicity, I should like to suggest that you and I meet at Headingley."
"Without detracting from the seriousness of these findings, nor from the imperative of a swift and effective response from the club, could I ask you whether they really amount to a sufficient reason to impose the peremptory removal of international cricket from Headingley with all its horrendous consequences; for, so far as I am aware, at today's date these are the only formal findings of racism against the club and it is on them, therefore, that the ECB and the DCMS will have to rely in justifying their actions.
He added: "Compare this figure of seven substantiated complaints with the 4,500 complaints made to the ECB whistleblowing hotline, spread throughout the game. This is surely where the DCMS and ECB focus should be, not on imposing draconian sanctions on one county alone."
The suggestion that 4,500 complaints have been made is not strictly accurate. It is understood 4,500 people responded. It is understood they are not all complaints.
Smith also accuses Knight of pre-judging evidence and, because of that, appears reluctant to appear in front of the DCMS committee to provide further evidence. But he does agree to meet Knight at Headingley "without the distortions of television and publicity".
"I found it odd, and unsettling, that you expressed your own judgement on this subject publicly on television before the first hearing of the DCMS select committee which you were to chair," Smith wrote. "You had demonstrably made up your mind before Azeem Rafiq had given his evidence and this badly undermined my confidence in the whole process.
"My expectation that the evidence would be comprehensively scrutinised and assessed by your committee before it reached its findings, was dashed at the outset, calling into question for me your committee's whole purpose.
The ECB are understand to be taken aback by recent exchanges (Justin Tallis/Getty Images)
"I have no confidence in your committee in a quasi-judicial role such as is required here. You yourself publicly pre-judged the outcome.
"The one televised hearing I watched (that at which Azeem Rafiq gave evidence) was characterised by unanimous prior acceptance by your colleagues (with the possible exception of one) of YCCC's guilt. You do not now appear to be interested in the outcome of the ECB's ongoing investigation.
"No purpose could therefore be served by my attendance before your committee, but may I make a counter-suggestion?
"In the interests of securing a fuller understanding of the issues on the part of the DCMS, which would be much more readily achieved without the distortions of television and publicity, I should like to suggest that you and I meet at Headingley when I shall be happy to answer all your questions to the best of my ability.
"You berate me for 'taking technical points of law to challenge efforts to restore the reputation of the club'. You appear thereby to be saying that YCCC should be allowed to operate unlawfully, a shocking suggestion in itself."
The message – and the tone of the message – is understood to have surprised the ECB. The previous day they released a statement making it clear they distance themselves from Smith's efforts to force the new Yorkshire chair, Lord Patel, to resign.
"We want to see all parties work together to support Lord Patel in the reform package he has set out," the statement read. "It is not acceptable for anyone to stand in the way of progress at YCCC."