Yorkshire Bowled Out of International Game
By Jordan Brightman-Charles
Following the organisation’s poor handling of Azeem Rafiq’s claims of racial harassment during his time at the club, the England and Wales Cricket Board have decided to suspend the hosting of international cricket matches at Yorkshire County Cricket Club.
Despite being a popular ground for both the England national team and its supporters, there will be no international cricket at Headingley until further notice.
This decision has sparked outrage amongst fans of the game. Many have expressed their own views on the matter via the social media platform Twitter.
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In response to @SkySportsNews’ tweet announcing the matter, one user expressed their anger at the decision by sarcastically proclaiming that it was “nice of [the ECB] to punish the supporters of Yorkshire and England who have already bought tickets for next years matches.”
“What about local businesses and staff at Headingley are they going to get compensated for lost earnings” one Yorkshire fan asked.
Another user defended the ECB’s actions, suggesting that people shouldn’t complain about ‘cancel culture’ influencing decisions as “Yorkshire CCC cancelled themselves by attempting to brush [Rafiq’s accusations] under the carpet”, making the situation worse for themselves.
Azeem Rafiq’s accusations of racial impropriety at Yorkshire County Cricket Club have sent major shockwaves throughout the landscape of the cricketing world, not least due to Yorkshire’s shambolic attempts at dealing with the matter.
The club’s action or rather, inaction, in dealing with the matter has already seen them lose their sponsorships with Nike, Yorkshire Tea, David Lloyd Clubs and Tetley Beer. The loss of international cricket will be yet another massive blow for the county and its supporters, but it can be deemed a valuable lesson in why clubs need to be more proactive in dealing with serious matters like racism.