LONDON 26 July (Online): Azeem Rafiq said he was \u201cincredibly proud\u201d of former Scotland cricketers Majid Haq and Qasim Sheikh for speaking out about the racist abuse they had suffered in their careers, which led to a damning review into Cricket Scotland.<\/p>\n
The review, which was backed by SportScotland, was published on Monday and said the governance and leadership practices of Cricket Scotland were \u201cinstitutionally racist\u201d.<\/p>\n
It was commissioned after Haq and Sheikh spoke out about the abuse they had suffered, with both players saying they were treated differently due to the colour of their skin.<\/p>\n
Rafiq, whose allegations of institutional racism at Yorkshire rocked English cricket last year, stressed the importance of reaching out to individuals who had suffered abuse before moving forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just incredibly proud of them and everyone else that played a part in the review,\u201d Rafiq told Sky Sports on Monday. \u201cI hope today gives them some sense of closure and that they\u2019ve been fully vindicated.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people that have suffered a lot of abuse over a lot of years,\u201d Rafiq said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s got to be an attempt to build those bridges back, speak to them, re-engage them, apologise. Once that is done, and only then, it\u2019s important to look to the future, and how we do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Rafiq spoke about the discrimination he faced while at Yorkshire, the British government-backed calls to limit public funding for the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) unless they were able to demonstrate progress in getting rid of racism.<\/p>\n
However, Rafiq said cutting Cricket Scotland\u2019s funding was not necessary at this stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there\u2019s an acceptance and an apology, then they need to be supported to make sure the change comes, and comes quicker,\u201d Rafiq said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf things don\u2019t change and if there\u2019s a resistance to change, then I think at that point SportScotland need to come down a lot harsher.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON 26 July (Online): Azeem Rafiq said he was \u201cincredibly proud\u201d of former Scotland cricketers Majid Haq and Qasim Sheikh for speaking out about the racist abuse they had suffered in their careers, which led to a damning review into Cricket Scotland. The review, which […]<\/p>\n
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