Hearing of Rafiq’s legal case against Yorkshire to begin in private

LONDON: The first morning of Azeem Rafiq’s legal case against Yorkshire will be heard in private, a spokesperson for the former player has said.

Rafiq filed a claim against the county under the Equality Act in December, alleging direct discrimination and harassment on the grounds of race, and a hearing is scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday this week. It has been announced that the hearing will now begin in private.

“The tribunal hearing which is listed for June 16 and 17 has been converted to a private hearing to deal with some case management issues on the first morning,” a spokesperson for Rafiq said.

The 30-year-old, who played professionally for Yorkshire in two spells between 2008 and 2018, is also claiming victimisation and detriment as a result of his efforts to address racism

at the club.

Rafiq initially spoke out last August, inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, and Yorkshire commissioned a separate investigation into his allegations which is ongoing.

Chadwick Lawrence, the law firm representing Rafiq in his claim, published details last December of what Rafiq alleges was “expressly racist dressing room banter” aimed at non-white players.

This included the use of terms such as “P**i”, “elephant washer”, and telling such players to “go back where you came from”, the firm said.

It is also claimed that Yorkshire failed to respect the beliefs of Pakistani players or players of Pakistani ethnicity, including failing to provide Halal food facilities.