England captain Joe Root has on Monday (August 23) expressed sympathy for Azeem Rafiq after his former Yorkshire teammate alleged racist abuse at the club during his playing days.
Former England U19 captain Rafiq alleged racist abuse at Yorkshire back in 2008 and even he was close to taking his own life after facing racism during his time at the club from 2008 to 2017.
However, Yorkshire has apologized to Rafiq, a player of Pakistani origin, after an independent investigation found that historically he was the “victim of inappropriate behavior.”
Reacting to the event, Root said it is hard to see his former Yorkshire teammate Rafiq “hurting” due to racial discrimination and urged all the stakeholders to create more awareness about the issue.
Root said ahead of the third Test against India: “I can't really speculate or comment too much on a report that I've not seen but as former teammate and friend, it's hard to see him hurting as he is. And I think more than anything, it shows that there's still a lot of work that we have to do as a game.”
He continued, “This is a societal issue in my opinion. We have seen it in other sports, seen it in other areas, and as a sport, we've got to keep trying to find ways of making sure that this isn't a conversation that keeps happening. We've got to find ways of creating more opportunities, making our game more diverse, educate better, and that thing that just comes from players and administrators.
As everyone involved in the game and there's got to be a want to do that and a will to do that. It's something that we have to priorities as a sport and make sure that you know this isn't something that happens again further down the line.”
Meanwhile, Root revealed that England players will wear anti-discrimination t-shirts and observe “a moment of unity” ahead of the third Test against India starting on August 25 at Headingley, saying the sport must keep creating awareness on racial discrimination with regular initiatives and gestures.
The skipper further explained, “We have to keep showing that we need to keep trying to create opportunities trying to show that the sport is for everyone and that we know we're desperate to make everyone aware of that and feel welcome to.”
He signed off by saying, “It is such a brilliant sport, it should be enjoyed by absolutely everyone, hopefully, through different things that we can. Small things we can do for a minute on the field then and around the games and we absolutely have to take the opportunity to do them, we have to do more.”
(With PTI Inputs)
