£500,000 fine recommended for Yorkshire County Cricket Club
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has recommended Yorkshire should be fined £500,000 and have points deducted points across all formats of the game for their handling of the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal.
Yorkshire has already admitted to four amended charges and The Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) says it will announce sanctions “soon”.
The recommendation of a £500,000 fine includes: £100,000 for the mishandling of Rafiq’s case, £100,000 for the deletion and destruction of data, £150,000 for not taking action relating to racist behaviour, and £150,000 for the systemic use of racist language over a prolonged period at the club.
The ECB has suggested £350,000 of the total sum should be suspended for three years, while the remaining £150,000 should be paid in instalments.
Its recommended sporting sanctions comprise a deduction of 48 to 72 points in the 2023 County Championship, a deduction of four to six points in the 2023 One-Day Cup, and a deduction of four to six points in the 2023 T20 Blast.
ECB lawyer Jane Mulcahy KC said the board had taken Yorkshire’s financial status into account and is not trying to put the club out of business.
But Yorkshire chief executive Stephen Vaughan warned in March the club faced a £3.5m shortfall and needed to repay £14.9m to the Graves Trust – one of its major creditors.
Yorkshire’s lawyer Daniel Stilitz KC asked the independent CDC panel to take into consideration the “detriment” Yorkshire has already suffered.
He added: “In fairness, the ECB has accepted in their submissions that the club has undertaken significant EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) action in respect of all aspects of its operation.
“The last two years have been some of the most difficult in the club’s entire history. Yorkshire is not the only club to have issues with racism, as the ICEC (Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket) report today acknowledges.”
Six ex-Yorkshire players found to have used racist language at Yorkshire were hit with fines and bans by the CDC in May.
But former England captain, Michael Vaughan, was cleared “on the balance of probabilities” by the panel of using racist language towards Rafiq.
