Azeem Rafiq racism case: Ripple effect of Yorkshire cricket crisis

Azeem Rafiq's experience of racism at Yorkshire County Cricket Club and its botched inquiry into his treatment continues to rock the sport. As sponsors desert the club and its chairman steps down, the crisis inside Headingley Stadium threatens to engulf those who make a living just outside its boundary.

In north-west Leeds, radios on cafe counters and inside hotel receptions blare out breaking news of Roger Hutton's departure from Yorkshire County Cricket Club (YCCC). The executive and two other board members resigned over the club's response to the abuse experienced by the former player.

These high-profile exits follow claims that an internal inquiry dismissed the regular use of a racial slur towards Rafiq as "friendly banter" and ruled that no-one inside the club should face action over it. The revelations have led a number of sponsors to walk away from YCCC, and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to suspend it from hosting England matches.

For businesses a cover drive away from the crease at Headingley Stadium, which rely upon the crowds international cricket attracts, the loss of these big games has made them feel as if they are being punished for actions outside of their control.

At the 36-room Boundary Hotel, a popular choice for both fans and cricketers due to its proximity to the turnstiles, duty manager James Earnshaw is already concerned about whether the stadium will now be overlooked for a planned Ashes test in 2023.

"Our biggest turnover at any time is because of the cricket," he says.

"To lose international games here will be detrimental not just to us but to the whole Headingley economy".

"We're talking about bars, clubs and businesses which rely heavily just on one week of the year when there's an international match and they're going to lose it all."

The hotel, which is often fully booked weeks in advance of internationals, estimates that a test match brings in about £2.5m to the area.

"My message to the ECB is it's alright to penalise the club for a major indiscretion, but it's affecting everybody," Mr Earnshaw says.

Jason Cunningham took on the Ugly Mugs cafe, on St Michaels Lane, 13 months ago. Synonymous with Headingley for many cricket fans, it is so close to the pitch that it gets a concerned name check from BBC Test Match Special commentators whenever a smashed six heads in its general direction.

"When international cricket is on it's mayhem, there's thousands of people around and it's really busy," says Mr Cunningham.

"It's what you wait for as those are the big pay days - you do a month's takings in a week.

"The queue's out the door, we can't serve fast enough."

Without the swift return of international cricket, Mr Cunningham says, drastic action may be needed if the cafe, a popular meeting point for cricket fans for several decades, is to survive.

"I'll probably have to become what they call a 'dark kitchen' and make food for delivery only," he says. "I don't want to be here until ten at night but that might be what I have to do to make it work as a business".

The damage and uncertainty to local businesses may linger for a good while, but it's the reputational damage which could prove most costly for the club - which runs a foundation delivering community outreach schemes and introduces the Joe Roots of the future to the sport.

Mark Ellis, chairman of Masham Cricket Club in Ripon, North Yorkshire, says he is concerned about the message Yorkshire is sending to small clubs during the row.

"Sport is a good opportunity for people to mix and get together and that's where we, as a grassroots club, can hold our hands up and say we're here to help, we can support the situation," he says.

"I'd like to think that whoever takes over when the board is replaced reflects the diversity of our county now as we've got to get the right people with the right voices there."

Abdul Ravat, a Batley-based community cricket campaigner, described the club's actions as "cluttered and reactive".

"It's going to deter a lot of people coming into cricket, we don't want to go back to the 1970s where we had all-white leagues and all-Asian leagues, we want that diversity," he says.

"Yorkshire has a diverse community and that needs to be reflected in all of its institutions. Yorkshire cricket is a major plank of the Yorkshire psyche."

Back in Headingley, the damage has been done for 68-year-old Paul McManus, who says he wouldn't want his grandchildren to be connected to the club due to recent events.

"It's absolutely scandalous, they've been dragging their heels over it and now look how many sponsors, spectators and young kids they'll lose because of this," he says.

"Parents won't let them come, regardless of their colour or ethnicity, because of how they've behaved."

Headingley is due to host a men's Test against New Zealand and a men's one-day international against South Africa in 2022, with no clear indication of whether the ban on international cricket will be lifted before then.

The ECB says it will last until the club has "clearly demonstrated that it can meet the standards expected".

"It is a massive penalty - and I hasten to add, a penalty which is richly deserved, as somebody who is half-Pakistani," says Simon Shibli, Professor of Sport Management at Sheffield Hallam University.

"I don't think anybody emerges on the other side with any credit whatsoever, apart from the chairman doing the decent thing and resigning and saying how he found it so difficult to bring about challenge or change in the hierarchy at the club."

"Hopefully it's something of a wake-up call."

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