Yorkshire should face a record fine of £500,000 and a deduction of between 48 and 72 points in this season’s County Championship over its handling of the Azeem Rafiq scandal, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has told a hearing.
The suggested punishment, which would be the biggest in English cricket, was made to an independent Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) panel on Tuesday. The ECB also called for Yorkshire to face a four-to-six points deduction in the One-Day Cup and the T20 Blast.
“This is a very serious matter and we suggest the sanctions are entirely appropriate,” the ECB’s counsel, Jane Mulcahy told the CDC.
The ECB said Yorkshire should pay £100,000 for the mishandling of an initial report into racism at the club and another £100,000 for the wholesale deletion of vital data. It also told the CDC that Yorkshire should pay £150,000 for failing to take adequate action relating to racist behaviour among the Headingley crowd and another £150,000 for racist language by players.
However, it said £350,000 should be suspended for the next three years. “It would be wholly unproductive to put Yorkshire out of business and the ECB is not trying to do such a thing,” said Mulcahy. “We are trying to strike a balance.”
The CDC will announce its verdict next month but any financial sanctions could hit Yorkshire hard, with the county’s chief executive, Stephen Vaughan, warning of a £3.5m shortfall at the club’s AGM in March.
Six former Yorkshire employees had sanctions imposed in May, with all of them found to have used the word “Paki’’, while the former England captain Michael Vaughan was cleared in March of using racist and/or discriminatory language towards four Asian players in 2009.
Daniel Stilitz KC, counsel for Yorkshire, told the CDC the club had already “forcefully transformed itself” for the better. “Yorkshire is not the only club to have issues with racism as the Icec report acknowledges,” he said. “Nor is cricket the only sport to have done so.
“But really Yorkshire has been a lightning rod for concerns about racism in sport and its reputation, performance and finances have suffered and continue to suffer as a result.”
