{"id":160672,"date":"2021-11-15T19:19:43","date_gmt":"2021-11-15T20:19:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=160672"},"modified":"2021-11-15T23:59:23","modified_gmt":"2021-11-15T23:59:23","slug":"third-player-accuses-vaughan-of-racist-remarks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=160672","title":{"rendered":"Third player accuses Vaughan of racist remarks"},"content":{"rendered":"

England cricketer Adil Rashid<\/a> has backed up allegations that former national captain Michael Vaughan<\/a> used racially insensitive comments toward a group of players of Asian ethnicity at county club Yorkshire<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Vaughan has denied the allegation \u2014 made by former Yorkshire player Azeem Rafiq in a report into what he described as a culture of racism at the club \u2014 that he once said about the inclusion of four players of Asian heritage in the lineup in 2009: \u201cThere are too many of you lot; we need to do something about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The four players in question were Rashid, Rafiq, Ajmal Shahzad and Pakistan international Rana Naved-ul-Hasan. Naved has confirmed to ESPN Cricinfo that he overheard Vaughan\u2019s remarks.<\/p>\n

Now Rashid, who played in England\u2019s 50-over World Cup-winning team in 2019 and was at the just-finished T20 World Cup, has said he supported Rafiq\u2019s allegation about Vaughan.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In a statement issued via The Cricketer on Monday, Rashid wrote: \u201cI wanted to concentrate as much as possible on my cricket and to avoid distractions to the detriment of the team but I can confirm Azeem Rafiq\u2019s recollection of Michael Vaughan\u2019s comments to a group of us Asian players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vaughan responded by releasing a statement through Britain's Press Association, repeating his denial and outlining his desire not to let his reputation \u201cbe trashed unfairly."<\/p>\n

\u201cI categorically deny saying the words attributed to me by Azeem Rafiq and want to re-state this publicly because the \u2018you lot\u2019 comment simply never happened," Vaughan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is extremely upsetting that this completely false accusation has been made against me by a former teammate, apparently supported by two other players."<\/p>\n

Vaughan said he remembered the match clearly because it was the first time in Yorkshire\u2019s history that four players of Asian heritage were selected in the same team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an important milestone for the county and it was also a moment of pride for me personally," he said. "I made a point of shaking all four players\u2019 hands that day because I recognised it was a significant moment.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven my view that the inclusion of Asian players in the Yorkshire team was a very positive and welcome development, it is inconceivable I would have made the derogatory comment attributed to me. To be confronted with this allegation 11 years after it has supposed to have happened is the worst thing I have ever experienced.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vaughan pointed to a passage in his contemporaneous autobiography, during which he wrote that increased representation from the Asian community \u201cought to be a good thing for our cricket,\u201d as well as television footage from the game that he said showed him \u201cspecifically congratulating each of the players concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ajmal Shahzad, who in 2004 became Yorkshire\u2019s first British Asian cricketer, said during an interview last year he had not heard the comment in question.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor some time, Ajmal Shahzad has been on record as saying that he never heard me say what has been suggested,\u201d Vaughan said. \u201cI have been in contact with the six other players from that team and not one of them has any recollection of the remark being made.<\/p>\n

\"Azeem<\/p>\n

\u201cI fully accept that perspectives differ, and I have great sympathy for what Azeem Rafiq has gone through, but I hope everyone understands why I cannot allow this to go unchallenged or my reputation to be trashed unfairly.\u201d<\/p>\n

While making no new allegations, Rashid has welcomed recent steps to shine a light on racism, including the parliamentary hearing with the digital, culture, media and sport select committee that Rafiq is attending on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Rashid, a legspinner who made his first-team debut at Yorkshire 15 years ago \u2014 overlapping significantly with the careers of both Vaughan and Rafiq \u2014 said he would be \u201cmore than happy to support any official efforts when the time is right.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m encouraged by the fact that a parliamentary committee seems to be trying to improve the situation, whether that\u2019s holding people accountable or getting changes made at an institutional level," he said. "These can only be positive developments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vaughan was stood down by the BBC from his hosting role on a radio show last week.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

England cricketer Adil Rashid has backed up allegations that former national captain Michael Vaughan used racially insensitive comments toward a group of players of Asian […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160672"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=160672"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":160674,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160672\/revisions\/160674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=160672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=160672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=160672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}