LONDON: Yorkshire County Cricket Club were slapped with a huge 48-point deduction in the English County Championship on Friday after admitting four charges related to the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal.
The independent Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) also fined the club £400,000 ($514,000), £300,000 of which is suspended for two years.
The points penalty sends Yorkshire to the bottom of Division Two of the County Championship.
Pakistan-born bowler Rafiq, 32, went public with allegations of racism and bullying in September 2020, related to his two spells at the English county.
The Yorkshire board issued a statement accepting the sanctions.
“The CDC and ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) have today acknowledged the vast amount of work done by YCCC to overcome the cultural issues that existed within the club, which allowed racist and discriminatory behavior to go unchallenged,” it said.
“We are accountable for these issues, and we accepted four amended charges as part of a continued commitment to ensure we are able to move forward.”
But the Yorkshire board added: “We are disappointed to receive the point deductions which affects players and staff at the club, who were not responsible for the situation.”
ECB chief executive Richard Gould, who was not in post during the Rafiq scandal, said: “There can be no place for racism in our game, and the penalties announced by the Cricket Discipline Commission mark the end of a thorough disciplinary process.
“No one should have to experience what Azeem Rafiq went through in cricket, and we once again thank him for his courage in speaking out.”
Six former Yorkshire players were previously fined by the CDC after being found guilty of using racist language.
Separately, a damning report by the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) last month revealed “widespread” racism, sexism and classism in English cricket.
The ICEC was established in 2021 following the racism scandal surrounding the treatment of Rafiq.
Yorkshire cricket club punished over racism scandal
https://arab.news/yp6qk
Yorkshire cricket club punished over racism scandal
- Pakistan-born bowler Rafiq went public with allegations of racism and bullying in September 2020
- The points penalty sends Yorkshire to the bottom of Division Two of the County Championship
UK upper house approves social media ban for under-16s
LONDON: Britain’s upper house of parliament voted Wednesday in favor of banning under?16s from using social media, raising pressure on the government to match a similar ban passed in Australia.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday he was not ruling out any options and pledged action to protect children, but his government wants to wait for the results of a consultation due this summer before legislating.
Calls have risen across the opposition and within the governing Labour party for the UK to follow Australia, where under-16s have been barred from social media applications since December 10.
The amendment from opposition Conservative lawmaker John Nash passed with 261 votes to 150 in the House of Lords, co?sponsored by a Labour and a Liberal Democrat peer.
“Tonight, peers put our children’s future first,” Nash said. “This vote begins the process of stopping the catastrophic harm that social media is inflicting on a generation.”
Before the vote, Downing Street said the government would not accept the amendment, which now goes to the Labour-controlled lower House of Commons. More than 60 Labour MPs have urged Starmer to back a ban.
Public figures including actor Hugh Grant urged the government to back the proposal, saying parents alone cannot counter social media harms.
Some child-protection groups warn a ban would create a false sense of security.
A YouGov poll in December found 74 percent of Britons supported a ban. The Online Safety Act requires secure age?verification for harmful content.
