Rafiq spoke at the DCMS select committee hearing on Tuesday
Former England cricket coach David “Bumble” Lloyd has apologised to Azeem Rafiq and the “Asian cricket community” over comments he made in the past.
His apology comes after Rafiq gave evidence to the Select Committee on his experience of institutional racism at Yorkshire County Cricket Club and within the game more broadly.
The 30-year-old said the Sky Sports commentator tried to ‘smear him in an attempt to suppress his allegations of racism’.
Speaking at the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) select committee hearing on Tuesday, Rafiq said:Â “I sat in front of national TV and talked about the dark places this whole episode has got me into and what’s happened since then? Denial, briefings, cover-ups, smearing.
“High-profile media people messaging other members of the media who supported me saying stuff like ‘the club houses are the life blood of a club and Asian players don’t go in there’, ‘getting subs out of Asian players is like getting blood out of stone’.
“And then personally this guy doesn’t even know me, has never spent any time with me, is talking about my personal drinking, going out and socialising.
“That was David Lloyd, he’s been an England coach, commentator, and I found it disturbing because Sky are supposedly doing this amazing work on bringing racism to the front and within a week of me speaking out that’s what I got sent to me. And I thought, ‘Gosh, there’s some closet racists and we need to do something about it’.”
Lloyd, 74, has since released a statement on Twitter, apologising to the wider Asian cricket community for his comments.
— David 'Bumble' Lloyd (@BumbleCricket) November 16, 2021
Lloyd admitted that he was involved in a “private message exchange” during which he “referred to allegations” about the former Yorkshire cricketer and “made some comments about the Asian cricket community”.
He added: “I deeply regret my actions, and I apologise most sincerely to Azeem and to the Asian cricket community for doing this, and for any offence caused.”
Related links:
- Cricketer Azeem Rafiq was ‘pinned down’ and forced to drink red wine as a 15-year-old
- Yorkshire chief executive Mark Arthur resigns over the club’s response to Azeem Rafiq case
- Piers Morgan defends Michael Vaughan over Yorkshire racism allegations
