The former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan has categorically denied using racist language to four Asian players in 2009, telling a disciplinary hearing: “That’s not what I am about”.
On a day when Azeem Rafiq was accused of playing “the race card” and the thoroughness of the ECB’s investigation was questioned Vaughan took the stand to reject claims that he said: “There’s too many of you lot; we have to have a word about that” to the players before a Twenty20 game between Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire.
Vaughan accepted that the phrase, which Rafiq, Adil Rashid and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan allege was said after a team huddle, was racist and discriminatory. But he insisted it was not in his mentality to use it.
“I have a very clear mind about, back in 2009, that I know I didn’t say the words I’ve been alleged to have said,” said Vaughan. “If you go through the history of me as a player, I don’t know of a time when I could put my teammates in a bad state of mind to go out and win a cricket match. That’s not what I’m about.”
Giving evidence to the Cricket Discipline Commission hearing, which is investigating racism in Yorkshire cricket, Vaughan said the TV evidence of him shaking hands with the four Asian players before the game showed “I couldn’t have been more proud”.
“I wanted them to be loved in the environment,” added Vaughan. “One of my main strengths, which many people applauded me for, was creating a culture, managing people, making sure they were in the right place to deliver their skill. I have always gone out of my way to make people feel loved.”
But under cross-examination from Jane Mulcahy KC, counsel for the ECB, Vaughan admitted he had sent three historical tweets that were “unacceptable”.
One of them, in 2010, was about service offered by telephone directory 118 118. “Why when you ring 118 118 are all the people who answer foreign,” Vaughan had tweeted. “Can’t make heads or tails of what they are saying. Annoying.”
“Is this your tweet?” asked Mulcahy. “Absolutely it is, and it is unacceptable,” replied Vaughan. He told the hearing that he had since had inclusion training and learned from his mistakes.
“But you’re also the person who sent those tweets?” said Mulcahy. “Yes,” Vaughan replied. “But when I do something wrong I stick my hand up and say I’m wrong.”
Vaughan also discussed meeting Rafiq for three or four hours in November 2021, in what he claimed was a bid to defuse the situation.
“I felt it was getting too big, hurting too many people,” he said. “It’s not been easy for anybody, this. I don’t think this is the right process to deal with a word-versus-word process from 14 years ago. Whatever happens, this has a terrible look on the game, a real bad look on how cricket has dealt with this situation. I wanted to be a leader, I listened, I apologised. The message was ‘let’s work together’.”
On the third day of evidence, there were also claims from Matthew Wood, Rafiq’s former personal development manager at the Professional Cricketers’ Association, that Rafiq had played the “race card”.
To support his claims, Wood cited an August 2018 meeting when he alleged that Azeem said he would sign a new contract with Yorkshire if they removed “certain people”. “I then asked Azeem, “And what will you do if they don’t offer you a new contract”. Azeem replied with words to the effect of “I’ll just hit them with the race card”.
Wood also claimed that Rafiq “had used being Asian as leverage” when he had missed the deadline for an ECB coaching course in 2020. However, under cross-examination Mulcahy told him he was mistaken on this point as Rafiq had sent a postal application for the course early.
She also questioned why Wood had never mentioned Rafiq’s alleged comments in 2018 during the first investigation into racism at Yorkshire. “The reason you didn’t is that Mr Rafiq didn’t play the race card,” she told him.
“At the time it wasn’t asked and I wasn’t sure where it was going,” Wood replied. “But my superiors at the PCA knew about Rafiq’s comments and I later added it to my statement.”
Wood also said that Rafiq had burst into tears after calling him in late 2020 when the media storm was growing after he first made allegations of institutional racism at Yorkshire. “In my conversation with Azeem, he said to me that ‘someone has to pay for this’,” Woods said. “When ‘I asked him ‘pay for what?’ Azeem replied ‘I don’t know’.
Wood also claimed that Rafiq had told him: “‘I never intended for things to get this big’ and that he felt that ‘he had to stick with it now things have got this far’.”
Wood added: “I remember asking him ‘how does this all end, Azeem?’ and Azeem replied ‘someone has to pay’ to which I said ‘pay for what?’ and Azeem said ‘I don’t know’. Azeem was really upset during the call and he cried for a good 20 minutes or so.”
Mulcahy said Rafiq had denied crying in his witness statement. She also questioned Wood over whether Rafiq was referring to money. “I didn’t get the sense it was about cash payments,” he replied. “But what was notable was that he didn’t know what he wanted.”`
Earlier Vaughan’s lawyer, Christopher Stoner KC, criticised the ECB’s investigation into Vaughan, saying it was based on “assumption upon assumption”.
Cross-examining the ECB’s director of legal and integrity, Meena Botros, Stoner asked why he had not spoken to the umpires, the Sky TV cameraman near the huddle, or several players in the match.
“You weren’t really interested in looking into the matter, apart from finding corroborating evidence, were you, Mr Botros?” he suggested. “That’s not correct,” Botros replied.
Vaughan, along with Matthew Hoggard, Tim Bresnan, John Blain, Andrew Gale and Richard Pyrah, all face charges related to the use of racially discriminatory language. Vaughan is the only one to contest them in person. The others withdrew their cooperation with the process due to concerns over fairness and transparency with the investigation.
• This article was amended on 5 March 2023 to correct diffuse to defuse.
