British Asians in Sport and Physical Activity (BASPA) Advisory Board: Azeem Rafiq and Yorkshire Cricket County Club Comment “Today marks a truly sad and reflective day for the British South Asian community. To dismiss this slur and it most certainly is a slur as ‘friendly banter’ is abominable. Let us not forget a time where the violent physical assault of British South Asians was commonly referred to as ‘p*** bashing’ the history associated with that phrase, the emotional charge it carries and the intent to degrade a member of the South Asian community through its use, is certainly not ‘friendly banter’. Azeem Rafiq attempted as any employee would, to raise his concerns through the channels designed to support players – what was he met with? Hostility, dismissals, a lack of empathy and excess of apathy. To those who claim that the agenda around race and racism has gone too far, we are all becoming ‘too politically correct’ the deliberate attempts to hide this blatant instance of racism is concrete evidence that the consistent campaigns of ethnically diverse communities and their allies are wholly valid and necessary. We as the British Asians in Sport and Physical Activity (BASPA) Advisory Board are particularly disturbed that the only action taken, after reviewing the full report, by Yorkshire County Cricket Club was to issue a ‘full apology’. That no employees of the club or the club as a whole bore any form of negative repercussion, action, intervention or implemented education to build empathy and awareness. We echo the feelings of many individuals, ministers and even that of DCMS that accountability is necessary to be met with swift and just actions. However, as a sector we must reflect on why this is still occurring, why is there still issues of institutional racism, investigate this, engage the communities impacted and deliver impactful resolves to stop this cycle of racial abuse.” - British Asians in Sport and Physical Activity (BASPA) Advisory Board
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