Azeem Rafiq

Haven't followed the case closely, but why do you have to be "whiter than white" to make an allegation of racism? They're two separate incidents, neither of them acceptable, but they don't cancel each other out. It's not OK to racially abuse a racist. 

Not the best use of a pun either. It's not like you said it out loud and then realised you'd done it. You could have rephrased that but chose to keep it in. 

I was very moved by his statement, particularly the part when he mentioned the death of his son and none of his team mates offering any condolences. His bravery in highlighting bullying compromised his career. I doubt if anyone at Yorkshire CC was offended by these alleged anti semitic comments, of which I have heard no reference to in the news reports. Where did you read this?

Definitely some disturbing undercurrent to the original poster’s thread here - one which he has also demonstrated elsewhere such as bemoaning our “woke” (used in the wrong context) club for punishing fans for their vile abuse of Jonno at a recent home game.

Rafiq made a silly, yes anti-Semitic comment on Twitter years ago calling a mate Jewish because he’s tight with buying a round, but the guy - and other cricketers of South Asian heritage - have suffered prolonged systemic racist abuse carried out by the club hierarchy and his case has pushed the door open for such players to speak out about their experiences in the wider game. It’s a good thing.

    Your delving far too deeply into my original post and point Frank, though I would like you to explain on the disturbing undercurrent part of your reply. I also did not bemoan our club for punishing the fan regarding Jonno's abuse, my point was regarding Cleggy's announcement pre match and how it potentially could be interpreted, as in fans objecting to things said near them. 
Michael Vaughan made a silly throw a way line apparently back in 2009, he denies it but whether he said it or not it's likely to have a damaging impact on his career in the media, some might say rightly, some will disagree. 

The sad thing is that somebody (probably a journalist) has taken the time to scour through his social media history to find something questionable he said as a teenager. I find that a strange reaction to somebody exposing racism, almost as though it's an attempt to discredit them. It would also make other people hesitant to speak up about abuse if they worry that everything they've ever put online is going to be run through with a fine tooth comb.

The point of speaking up about racism isn't just that you want to call someone a racist. The idea is that you want to change it and educate the perpetrators. We pretty much all harbour racial prejudice to some degree whether we're aware of it or not, so the solution is to be more aware of it and try to better ourselves. Rafiq has been made aware that said something racist 10 years ago and he accepts that and argues he has educated himself since. Similarly, I don't think he would want Yorkshire to be seen as a racist cricket club in 10 years' time, he would want them to change and learn from their past.

It is to be hoped that much will now improve in cricket in terms of eliminating racism in all its forms. Much has been made of all the off the field issues, but no mention of on the field issues such as sledging which is frequently embellished with racial, sexual and gender references, dished out by players of all ethnicities.