Former England skipper Michael Vaughan has expressed his apology for the hurt that Azeem Rafiq experienced during his stint at Yorkshire County Cricket Club, but he again denied making racist comments.
Rafiq recently opened up about the racism and bullying he suffered at Yorkshire, and his allegations against Vaughan led to BBC dropping the latter from its coverage of the upcoming Ashes series in Australia.
In his testimony, Rafiq had alleged that Vaughan told a group of Asian players in 2009: “There are too many of you lot; we need to do something about it.”
In a BBC interview shown Saturday, Vaughan was asked if he ever made any racist remarks during his time at Yorkshire and he replied: “No I didn’t, no.”
Earlier this month, Rafiq testified at a parliamentary hearing about the racism he copped while playing at Yorkshire, describing “inhuman” treatment, with Vaughan and other leading former and current cricketers accused in the case.
“I’m sorry for the hurt that he’s gone through,” Vaughan told the BBC. “Time, I don’t think, can ever be a healer in the situation that he’s gone through. But hopefully time can be a way of us making sure that Yorkshire County Cricket Club never goes through this situation again and never puts themselves in a position of denial that they treated a player so badly.
“It hurts deeply,” he continued, “hurts me that a player has gone through so much (and) be treated so badly at the club that I love. I have to take some responsibility for that because I played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club for 18 years and if in any way shape or form I’m responsible for any of his hurt, I apologize for that.”
Notably, Rafiq’s accusation against Vaughan was corroborated by former Pakistan pacer Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and England leg-spinner Adil Rashid, who were also part of the Yorkshire dressing room in 2009.
Vaughan also issued an apology for a number of derogatory historic tweets, including one questioning the lack of English speakers in London and another suggesting that England all-rounder Moeen Ali should ask random Muslims if they are terrorists.
“I apologize deeply to anyone that I’ve offended with those tweets,” Vaughan said. “Times have moved on and I regret those tweets. We all make mistakes and in my life I’ve made quite a few mistakes on Twitter. I apologize for that.”
(Inputs from Associated Press)
