The witness statement which formed part of the employment tribunal against Yorkshire has been published, detailing the treatment of Rafiq and others at Headingley
Azeem Rafiq has alleged that Yorkshire buried Gary Ballance's positive tests for recreational drugs.
The revelation emerged in the 31-year-old witness statement that he submitted as part of the employment tribunal against the Headingley club.
Among droves of charges regarding institutional racism, Rafiq said he faced discriminatory treatment with regard to disciplinary matters.
Those experiences included being released from the club in 2014 over the phone, facing accusations of faking injury after reporting having suicidal thoughts and the lack of support following the stillbirth of his son.
In one of 169 charges made at the club, Rafiq said: "Over the years, YCCC protected Gary Balance with respect to his drug and alcohol issues, allowing him to miss drug hair sample tests to avoid sanctions. When he failed a recreational drug test and was forced to miss some games, the club informed the public he was missing games because he was struggling with anxiety and mental health issues."
He also compared his treatment with that of former captain and current head coach Andrew Gale, who was suspended by the ECB for racist abuse directed towards Ashwell Prince but escaped internal punishment.
The Cricketer has contacted Yorkshire for comment.
A representative for Ballance said: "These allegations are categorically untrue and should never have been made," a statement said.
"Gary has never, to his knowledge, missed a drugs test and would not do so."
Andrew Gale and Tim Bresnan were described by Rafiq as being a "double-act"
The release of the statement comes after the former spinner produced an emotional testimony in front of the DCMS hearing into racism in cricket. During the session, he names a number of individuals who had subjected him to racial abuse, including former England internationals Matthew Hoggard and Tim Bresnan.
Hoggard, who played 67 Tests and 26 ODIs for his country, was at Yorkshire between 1996 and 2009, across Rafiq's first spell at the club.
"I genuinely liked Hoggy, but I think he was a product of the discriminatory culture he was in and the culture that was allowed to thrive at YCCC," he said in the statement.
"It was Hoggy who started calling me 'Raffa the Kaffir'. At the time, I honestly didn’t understand that it was a racist slur.
"My nickname at the club was 'Raffa', which was a shortening of my surname Rafiq, so when he started calling me 'Raffa the Kaffir' – I just thought he said it because it rhymed. It was only later I realised what “Kaffir” meant, how it was used, and that it was a racist term.
"It was when I was outlining incidents to the YCCC Investigation Team that I had reason to look into this further and appreciated for the first time how seriously demeaning the term was and how casually and lightly it had been taken throughout my career with these players."
"The comments from Hoggy towards myself and the other Asian players – Adil (Rashid), Ajmal (Shahzad) and Rana (Naved-ul-Hasan) – were constant, on a daily basis, and all day, every day. I think he might have thought it was just dressing room banter, but we would come in in the morning and he would say things like 'you lot sit over there' and make us all sit together. He would also call us things like 'elephant washers' and 'P***'."
Hoggard has since approached Rafiq to apologise for his actions.
It was in 2009 that Rafiq heard Michael Vaughan tell the Asian members of a Yorkshire team that was preparing to face Nottinghamshire “there’s too many of you lot. We need to have a word about that”. Teammates Naved-ul-Haq and Rashid have since substantiated the account. In the statement, Rafiq said, "hearing this from one of my cricketing heroes, it really stuck with me". Vaughan continues to deny the allegation.
Matthew Hoggard and Michael Vaughan were both at Yorkshire upon Rafiq's arrival into the first team
Rafiq also spoke of the abuse he received at the hands of "double-act" Bresnan, now at Warwickshire, and Andrew Gale a former Yorkshire captain and now head coach.
"Tim was very powerful at YCCC: he had played for Yorkshire all his life, was captain and had played for England," he said in the 57-page document. "It also is worth noting that Tim and Andrew Gale are related: Tim is Andrew’s brother-in-law. They always supported each other.
"In my experience, they were a double act: Tim would tag along and join in with Andrew’s racist comments and they bounced off each other in terms of the bullying.
"As with Andrew, Tim frequently made racist comments and was unduly harsh towards me compared to white British players, which became so unbearable that I made a formal complaint against him in 2017."
He added: "Tim would participate with and encourage Gary in the racist comments and jokes that were directed at me (for example, comments like 'is that your uncle’s shop?'), laughing along at such remarks."
Additionally, Bresnan is said to have made belittling comments towards Rafiq including criticising his performances in front of teammates. After reporting the treatment the allrounder did make an apology but the behaviour continued thereafter.
A statement released via Bresnan's Twitter page read: "I have been made aware of the bullying claims made against me and have listened to Azeem Rafiq's account of his time at Yorkshire CCC today with great distress, as I'm sure everyone will have done.
"For any part, I played in contributing to Azeem Rafiq's experience of feeling bullied at Yorkshire, I apologise unreservedly. Following the publication of Azeem's witness statement from the employment tribunal, which I saw for the first time this afternoon, I must though categorically deny his accusation that I 'frequently made racist comments'. This is absolutely not true."
His treatment at the hands of Gale was similar. As well as the racist language, it was the bullying at the hands of the skipper and coach that made the greatest impact on Rafiq.
"Throughout my time at YCCC, Andrew called me 'Raffa the Kaffir', 'p***' and so on. But it was the discriminatory treatment and bullying I felt from him that was harder for me than the name-calling.
Rafiq's witness statement follows his emotional appearance in front of the DCMS committee
"There were numerous incidents where I felt that Andrew was aggressive and rude towards me in ways he wasn’t with white players."
Rafiq outlined one particular incident in 2012 when Gale refused to respond to a fielding change.
"I wanted a fielder in a particular position and Andrew didn’t listen to me.
"I gestured in frustration after the ball went through the very position I had asked for a fielder and he shouted aggressively: 'Who the fuck do you think you are? You do as you’re told.'"
But the discrimination directed towards Rafiq and others went beyond the dressing room. The current director of cricket Martyn Moxon, as well former chief executive Mark Arthur, is accused of failing to respond to obvious acts of racism and discrimination.
"I faced racist and discriminatory treatment within the club and no action was taken to stop it: all of the incidents that I have described above involving other players making racist comments towards me and treating me unfairly happened on his watch.
"Many of the incidents even happened in front of him (Moxon). He did nothing to stop it or take action on it – even after I raised complaints."
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