‘Very angry at myself’
AZEEM Rafiq, a former English cricketer who said he had lost his career to racism, has apologised for antisemitic messages he sent as a teenager.
The former Yorkshire off-spinner, who said he had repeatedly been called a “Paki”, told a parliamentary committee, “Do I believe I lost my career to racism? Yes, I do.”
He previously said the abuse had led him to contemplate taking his own life.
However, The Times newspaper uncovered messages from 2012 sent to former Warwickshire and Leicestershire player Ateeq Javid, in which Rafiq – then aged 19 – said an unnamed Jewish player was reluctant to spend money at a team dinner because “he is a Jew”, and that he’d “probs go after my 2nds again”, adding, “Only Jews do tht [sic] sort of s**t.”
Tweeting about the remarks, Rafiq said, “I have absolutely no excuses.
“I am ashamed of this exchange and have now deleted it so as not to cause further offence. I was 19 at the time and I hope and believe I am a different person today. I am incredibly angry at myself and I apologise to the Jewish community and everyone who is rightly offended by this.”
In his allegations of racism, Rafiq mentioned a number of former teammates.
The fallout for Yorkshire, one of English cricket’s oldest and most prestigious counties, over the scandal has been devastating, with sponsors making a mass exodus.
But Rafiq warned the club, whose chairman and chief executive have both resigned, could not move forward until head coach Andrew Gale and director of cricket Martyn Moxon had left.
Gale is himself currently suspended pending investigations over a historical antisemitic tweet, with former England batsman Moxon signed off with a stress-related illness.
Welcoming Rafiq’s apology as “sincere”, Marie van der Zyl, the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said he “has suffered terribly at the hands of racists in cricket so he will well understand the hurt this exchange will cause to Jews who have supported him”.
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