Former England cricketer Matthew Hoggard says the Yorkshire historical racism investigation and disciplinary process has failed everyone involved, including Azeem Rafiq.
Rafiq first made claims of racism at Yorkshire in August 2020 and later called English cricket “institutionally racist”.
Hoggard, who played county cricket for Yorkshire and Leicestershire, says he is on “good terms” with Rafiq, whom he called after seeing him appear on television in September 2020.
He told BBC Sport: “The process has failed everybody. Every party involved has a problem with the way this process has been dealt with.
“Azeem [Rafiq] has a problem with it, all the respondents have, [former Yorkshire chairman] Lord Patel has, Yorkshire have. There has got to be a better way.”
Hoggard is facing four charges of bringing the game into disrepute, centred on allegedly using racist language during his time at Yorkshire.
In his first interview since allegations were made against him, Hoggard added: “I’m pulling out because I don’t think it’s a fair process.
“There are no winners in this. It is not an admission of guilt. The people who know the truth, know the truth. That is all that matters to me.
“I, as a respondent, have not been spoken to by the ECB once.”
The ECB said it “wrote to individuals to give them an opportunity to respond in writing before any charge was filed” and that “any respondent who requested we also speak to them was also spoken to”.
Rafiq said that over the past two years he has been vindicated “time and again”.
He added: “This has included a legal investigation that confirmed I was a victim of racial harassment and bullying; a Yorkshire-commissioned panel that concluded I suffered discrimination; numerous apologies, both public and private, from people who witnessed or were involved in this behaviour; and others have come forward to confirm the culture in the wider game.”
In what Hoggard says will be his only public comments on the matter, he claims:
- The investigation and disciplinary process has been flawed from the outset
- The ECB is refusing to hand over evidence collected during its investigation, regardless of whether they would aid or damage his defence
- His relationship with Rafiq is that of “friends” and does not believe his former team-mate set out to pursue individuals
- The four charges against him are a matter of past “dressing-room culture rather than racism”
In a statement, the ECB said: “Individuals are entitled to choose not to participate in the hearings if they wish, but the cases will still be heard in their absence and we are satisfied that the disciplinary process in this matter has been both rigorous and fair.
“As with any case before the Cricket Discipline Commission, defendants are entitled to a fair hearing by an independent and experienced CDC Panel where they can call witnesses, and they can also challenge the evidence in support of the charge, including through cross-examination of the ECB’s witnesses. It is entirely the decision of defendants if they choose not to take advantage of this opportunity.
“At the end of the hearing it is for the independent CDC Panel, not the ECB, to determine guilt or otherwise and any sanction.”
‘How can we defend ourselves?’
Hoggard, an Ashes winner with England in 2005, was one of seven individuals charged alongside Yorkshire in June of last year following allegations by Rafiq of historical racism.
Ex-Yorkshire captain and coach Andrew Gale withdrew his engagement in the process soon after being charged.
Hoggard pulled out on Friday, along with ex-England all-rounder Tim Bresnan and former Scotland pace bowler John Blain
Former England captain Michael Vaughan, ex-England international Gary Ballance and ex-Yorkshire bowler Richard Pyrah are the others facing charges at a hearing of the ECB’s Cricket Disciplinary Commission in March.
The CDC has determined to hold the hearing in public – the first time it has done so – following a request from former spin bowler Rafiq.
Hoggard gave a statement to the ECB after he was charged, but says he has never been interviewed as part of the investigatory process.
He claims the ECB contacted 56 witnesses as part of its investigation, but says the governing body is refusing to turn over all of the evidence collected despite extensive requests from Hoggard’s lawyers. The 46-year-old also says there are specific dates attached to only one of the four charges against him.
“How can we defend ourselves?” said Hoggard. “How can anyone have a fair trial?
“The ECB have got evidence – whether it helps or hinders us – that they will not let us see. Why is this?
“This process has been flawed from the start, from both aspects. I feel sorry for Azeem if he doesn’t feel like his voice is heard.
“It’s not fair on anyone in this process. How come it has taken so long for it get here?”
The ECB said it has “followed proper process throughout, including complying with its disclosure obligations and providing material to the relevant parties at the appropriate time”.
‘Good terms’ with Rafiq
Rafiq’s first spell with Yorkshire, between 2008 and 2014, coincided with Hoggard’s final years with the county before he signed for Leicestershire in 2009. Rafiq had a second spell at Headingley between 2016 and 2018.
His allegations of racism at Yorkshire were first made in an interview with the Cricket Badger podcast in August 2020, and Hoggard phoned Rafiq the following month. The two have remained in contact since.
“We are on good terms because we’ve never fallen out or had a crossed word,” said Hoggard. “Our relationship has been that of friends for a long time. Azeem lost his way in cricket and felt like Yorkshire let him down.
“I’ve spoken to Raffa a few times. In one of his statements he said: ‘I did not then and do not now think Matthew Hoggard is a racist person.’
“Azeem says I’ve got nothing to worry about on his first spell at Yorkshire. That is good enough for me.”
Hoggard also says Rafiq called him after his first appearance in front of a Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) select committee in November 2021 to apologise for the work he lost and the damage to his reputation.
“I was grateful to Matthew Hoggard for calling me to apologise shortly after I went public in 2020,” said Rafiq. “It is regrettable, though, that these defendants are not willing to go to a public hearing and face what happened.”
Hoggard does not believe Rafiq intended to pursue individuals, but says allegations “snowballed” and the “narrative” over what took place in the Yorkshire dressing room has changed.
Rafiq himself was reprimanded by the ECB in October of last year for a Facebook exchange from 2011 containing anti-Semitic messages. The messages came to light in November 2021, at which time Rafiq issued an apology.
The charges
Of Hoggard’s four charges, three are in relation to evidence given by Rafiq, along with one concerning a nickname given to former Yorkshire player Ismail Dawood.
Hoggard is accused of calling Rafiq an offensive nickname from the day of Rafiq’s first-team debut in June 2008 up to the point he left Yorkshire the following year.
Hoggard admits using the term, which is racially offensive in South Africa, where Hoggard had previously played.
However, he asserts that the nickname was given to Rafiq by other Asian members of the Yorkshire squad, using the meaning of a non-believer in Islam.
“Somebody called him [it]. I questioned it,” said Hoggard.
“Raffa has admitted he did things in the past he wasn’t proud of. He was called it by the Asians in the changing room. He didn’t take any offence to it, he just laughed.
“I didn’t come up with it, because it is a horrible name for someone in South Africa, which I why I questioned it.”
Hoggard is also charged with use of a racist term during the 2008 season.
In addition, Hoggard is accused of using the term “you lot” as a pejorative term for Asian players in the Yorkshire dressing room in 2008 and/or 2009.
“Absolutely,” he said. “I would say ‘you lot’ to any group. I would have said ‘you lot’ to the academy lads, ‘you lot’ to the batters – ‘any danger of you lot scoring some runs today, any danger of you lot catching’.”
Hoggard is also charged with using the nickname ‘TBM’ or ‘Token Black Man’ towards Dawood in 2004 and/or 2005.
Ex-wicketkeeper Dawood went on to become a first-class umpire and, along with fellow umpire John Holder, made allegations of racism against the ECB in 2020.
Hoggard claims that Dawood gave himself the nickname on Hoggard’s stag do.
“He introduced himself as that to other people,” said Hoggard. “It carried over to a season at Yorkshire. He was ‘TBM’ occasionally.
“He later said ‘when it was said in the changing room, on the pitch or in passing, I questioned whether I was a TBM because of quotas and I wasn’t good enough on the field’.”
Dawood said this was “another feeble attempt to malign and ridicule” and was “simply not true”.
He added: “The upcoming ECB public racism hearing will provide all parties a valuable opportunity, including Matthew Hoggard, to attend. I hope the attempts to discredit, rather than acknowledge and apologise, are taken into account when the CDC adjudicate.”
Hoggard said the allegations are not a question of racism, but the culture of the dressing-room.
He also did not agree with Rafiq’s claim that English cricket is institutionally racist and said he would would not have behaved differently if given the opportunity.
“Nothing is off limits,” he said. “If you wrote down everything that is said in a changing room, and read it, you’d cringe. On top of that, both society and recollections of events will have changed over the past 15 years.”
In contrast, Rafiq has called the language used in the dressing room “racism and bullying”. His forthcoming book is entitled ‘It’s Not Banter, It’s Racism’.
Hoggard said: “If I thought that anyone was taking offence, didn’t like it or was shrinking away, then it’s not OK.
“If somebody was singled out, picked on and abused, if that changing room didn’t realise it, it was a bad culture. If there was a divide in that changing room, it would have been noticed, but that wasn’t the case.”
In November 2021, the ECB announced a five-point action plan to tackle racism, including a review into dressing-room culture. That review was initially scheduled to be delivered at the end of the 2022 season but is still to be published.
Though Hoggard has not played first-class cricket since 2013, the ECB argues it retains jurisdiction over him by the terms of an undertaking to abide by the governing body’s rules, which an individual signs in order to be registered to play.
The ECB claims that the terms of the undertaking are binding for life.
Speaking at the DCMS for a second time in December of last year, Rafiq said he had “been driven out of the country” by “threats and abuse” since speaking about the alleged racism at Yorkshire.
While Hoggard said he sympathises with Rafiq, he also spoke of the toll the allegations have taken on him and his family.
“When the allegations first came out, I didn’t want to leave the house,” he said. “I’ve been cancelled, people saying they can’t afford to be seen with me. I’ve lost so much work.
“My family have taken a battering, especially my wife. I’m done. The people that know me, what I’m about, they know. That is good enough for me.
“I’m not taking part in a process that I feel isn’t being conducted in a fair manner.”