The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has ““failed terribly” over its handling of the Yorkshire racism scandal, according to Cayman resident Michael Holding.
In a statement released last week, the ECB chastised Yorkshire after the club determined no action was necessary despite an independent report upholding seven of 43 claims of bullying and racial harassment.
Accusations were made by former Yorkshire player Azeem Rafiq, who said he had been racially abused for a number of years, as well as Tabassum Bhatti, a former academy player for the county, who said he was called a P*** among other racist comments and even urinated on because of his Muslim beliefs.
Now, West Indies legend Holding, 67, has addressed the situation, telling The Sun: “The ECB failed Yorkshire and they failed cricket. They are supposed to be the organisation that runs cricket in England,” he said.
“If you are the supreme court, for instance, and one of the lower courts has a problem and comes to you asking for help and you’ve said that’s not your business, that doesn’t work.”
The now retired cricket commentor said he doesn’t believe “policies in any organisation will have racism and how to treat people in them” but noted that persons within the organisations needed “to be looked at- their mindset, their ideology – that is what needs to change.”
“It’s difficult to say you’re going to do something about what happened to Azeem Rafiq, but you can do something about the club and the thinking of people at the club.”
The fallout has led Yorkshire chairman Roger Hutton to resign, and Yorkshire suspended first-team coach Andrew Gale. Yorkshire have also been suspended from hosting international fixtures.
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