Former England captain Michael Vaughan has revealed that he was named in a report by a Yorkshire cricketer, in which the player said he was racially abused at the county cricket club. But Vaughan has denied the allegations.
Azeem Rafiq, a Pakistan-born English cricketer, has accused the Yorkshire County Cricket Club of institutional racism, saying he was a victim of it during his two spells at the club.
An investigation is under way of Yorkshire's handling of the allegations, which has led to the England Cricket Board banning the county from hosting international matches.
A day after England batter Gary Ballance admitted to using racial slurs towards Rafiq, Michael Vaughan wrote in his column for the Daily Telegraph that the report states he told Rafiq and two other Asian players that there are “too many of you lot, we need to do something about it”.
“I completely and categorically deny that I ever said those words,” wrote Vaughan, who played for England from 1991 to 2009.
“This hit me very hard," Vaughan wrote. "It was like being struck over the head with a brick. I have been involved in cricket for 30 years and never once been accused of any remotely similar incident or disciplinary offence as a player or commentator.”
The report by Rafiq is not public yet, but Vaughan said that the comments were alleged to have been made in 2009 when the former national team captain still played for Yorkshire.
“If Rafiq believes something was said at the time to upset him then that is what he believes. It is difficult to comment on that except to say it hurts me hugely to think I potentially affected someone,” he wrote.
Yorkshire had carried an internal investigation of Rafiq's 43 allegations for over a year but decided that no players, coaches or executives would face any action.
But what the ECB found “abhorrent” was that the club concluded that a particular racist term that was regularly aimed at Rafiq was “friendly and good-natured banter”.
“It is clear to the Board that YCCC's handling of the issues raised by Azeem Rafiq is wholly unacceptable and is causing serious damage to the reputation of the game. The ECB find this matter abhorrent and against the spirit of cricket and its values,” said an ECB statement.
Yorkshire's kit sponsors Nike has cut ties with the club over the allegations and a senior UK MP has called for the club's board to resign.
