Azeem Rafiq 'incredibly hurt' after Root releases statement on Yorkshire racism row
Nov 12, 2021
London [UK], November 12 : Azeem Rafiq on Thursday said he is "incredibly hurt", hours after England Test captain Joe Root released a statement on the racism controversy which has gripped the county of Yorkshire.
Root has spent his entire county career at Yorkshire, making his second-team debut in 2007 before progressing to the first team in 2009. Joe Root took to Twitter and stated that the recent events at the club has fractured the game and torn lives apart.
But when asked if he had seen any racism at Yorkshire, Joe Root, as per Sky Sports told reporters he had never personally heard any racism at the club and added that he will reach out to new chairman Lord Patel, who replaced Roger Hutton following his resignation last week, at "some point in the future".
"Disappointed is not even the feeling. Incredibly Hurt. But uncomfortable truths are hard to accept it seems," Azeem Rafiq tweeted.
Former England captain Michael Vaughan has "completely and categorically" denied Azeem Rafiq's allegation that he was racist towards him and other Asian Yorkshire team-mates in 2009. Vaughan denied Rafiq's claims that in his final season with the club, he had told Rafiq and two other Asian players that there are "too many of you lot, we need to do something about it".
Last week, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) had suspended Yorkshire from hosting international matches over handling the issues raised by Azeem Rafiq.
