Cricketer Azeem Rafiq has been forced to flee abroad after blowing the whistle on racism gripping the sport, he revealed today.
Thirteen months after he gave heartbreaking evidence to MPs probing vile abuse in English cricket, Rafiq told how he had moved overseas and had “24/7 security” with three bodyguards provided by the sport’s domestic governing body.
He also recalled how a man holding toilet roll was seen defecating in Rafiq’s garden amid a backlash against his allegations about racism he suffered when he was at Yorkshire County Cricket Club.
“The last year has been pretty challenging at times,” the Pakistan-born spinner, 31, told the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee.
“The impact has been quite great on me and my family.”
His family “has been the target of abuse, threats and attacks”, he said.
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“Recently (at) my family house, there was a bloke in broad daylight who basically walked in and out of the garden on the phone before defecating, bringing a loo roll - it looked all very planned,” he said.
“(There was) another incident where a gentleman late at night was circling with what looked like a chain in his hand.
“Me and my family have been driven out of the country.”
He blamed “constant pressure” in the wake of his evidence to Parliament for his decision to quit Britain, where he arrived aged 10.
Rafiq’s revelations last year triggered a wave of sackings at Headingley and a report concluding racism in cricket was "deep-seated".
But he told MPs the sport was “very much in denial”.
Rafiq, 31, rejected claims the abuse began as “banter”, saying: “I hate the word. For me, one man’s banter is another person’s demise.”
He added: “There have been lots of attempts to downplay what I went through.
“To put it into context, I was called a P*** not just in the dressing room, in public places.
“It’s just not banter, it really isn’t.
“I think ‘banter’ is used as an excuse to make someone feel isolated.”
Rafiq’s fellow cricketer Jahid Ahmed, 36, told how he was called “curry muncher” when he played at Essex, and was asked if he planned to “bomb” the ground.
He also alleged a “current player still playing” used “racist slurs, used a lot of things to bully me throughout my whole career”.
Ahmed added: “He’s not just a small person, he’s a big fish.”
Cricket journalist George Dobell blasted delays in rooting out racism, after an MP said there was pressure from some players to encourage others to drink alcohol.
When he gave evidence last autumn, Muslim Rafiq battled back tears as he recalled how he was forced to drink wine at the age of 15.
He was also drenched in lager when team-mates celebrated a promotion-clinching performance in 2012.
Mr Sobell told MPs there was an “apartheid” in the sport as he contrasted the chances of playing professional cricket if a child was educated in a state school or the private system.
“If you go to a public school and you’re white you’re 34 times more likely to become a professional cricketer compared to being British-South Asian and state-educated,” he said.
“So yeah, the game probably is toxic and there has been a system of apartheid.
“It hasn’t particularly been intentional, it’s been short-sighted and economic-led.
“But it’s been allowed to be established and at this stage we all know it’s happening and we have got to do something about it.
“The game has been terribly slow to act and no-one’s been held to account.”
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