Coaching staff exodus at Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Director of cricket Martyn Moxon, head coach Andrew Gale and all coaching staff are among 16 people to have left Yorkshire County Cricket Club amid the racism scandal which has engulfed the organisation.
The latest wave of resignations follow a report which found former player Azeem Rafiq was a victim of “racial harassment and bullying” while at Yorkshire.
Moxon had been Yorkshire’s director of cricket since 2007, while former captain Gale had already been suspended as part of an investigation into a tweet he sent in 2010.
Lord Patel, the club’s new chairman, said: “Significant change is required at Yorkshire County Cricket Club and we are committed to taking whatever action is necessary to regain trust.
“The decisions announced today were difficult to make, but are in the best interests of the club.
“Without making important changes to how we are run, we cannot move on from the past to become a culture which is progressive and inclusive.”
Lord Kamlesh Patel
A Yorkshire statement said a new director of cricket is to be hired imminently.
Rafiq had told a Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) select committee hearing that racist language was “constantly” used during his time at the club and described English cricket as “institutionally racist”.
At the same hearing, Rafiq said the day after his son was still-born in 2017, Moxon “ripped shreds” off him in a way he had never seen Moxon use when speaking to anyone else at Yorkshire.
Roger Hutton, Yorkshire’s former chairman who stepped down in November, said Moxon and former chief executive Mark Arthur “failed to accept the gravity of the situation”. Arthur resigned last month.
Yesterday, it was confirmed the club will be subject to an independent review into its governance. The review will be conducted by the Good Governance Institute and law firm Howard Kennedy and will be shared on 24 January.
A statement released by the club said the review will involve: “obtaining written submissions and holding a series of interviews with individuals from Yorkshire County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), and the wider cricket and sporting community”.
Lord Patel said: “The independent governance review will be essential in helping us shape how we move forward as a club following the recent challenges we have faced.
“It is clear that many have been failed by our leadership and how we operate as a club.
“We must look closely at our processes and procedures, and I am determined that we go above and beyond gold standard both on paper and in practice.”
