Joe Root Racism Section: These events have broken our game, shattered lives

England Test captain Joe Root said on Thursday that the “unbearable” episode of Yorkshire racism had “broken our game and broken lives” and offered his support for a change at his childhood club.

The Cricket Club recently concluded that staff will not take any action over claims of racism and institutional harassment of former player Azeem Rafiq, and this week the main sponsors have ruled out agreements to handle the case.

Root, an Australian from the Ashes series, called for “change and action” from Yorkshir.

“There is no debate about racism. It is simply unbearable,” Root said in a statement.

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“These events have broken our game and broken our lives. Now we need to recover and unite those of us who work within the fans, players, media and cricket. We have a chance to make the sport I love better for everyone,” he said. add.

The county has been widely criticized for handling the issue and, in addition to sponsors, has also lost the right to host England’s international matches at Headingley’s home.

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As a senior Yorkshire player who was also a former teammate of Rafiq’s, Root said he felt “compelled to deal with the current situation that has consumed the sport and the YCCC”.

“As England captain and senior Yorkshire player, I feel compelled to deal with the current situation that has consumed sport and the YCCC.

“I just want it to be a place where they enjoy the beautiful game of sport and feel equally and safe. It hurts me to know that this happened so close to home at the YCCC. It’s my club that I care about passionately. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about it.” the patron added: “I want to see the changes and actions that will take place above this YCCC, with a culture that takes advantage of a diverse environment in every community that supports county cricket.

Root vowed to help Lord Patel, President of New Yorkshire.

“We need to educate, unite and restore. I will be contacting the new President of the YCCC, Lord Patel, to provide as much support as I can.

“We need to find a way to move forward and prevent that from happening again. I think this is a social issue and needs to be worked on beyond cricket. That said, we all need to do it as a sport. More,” Root said.

Rafiq, the former England Under-19 captain, said in interviews last year that he felt like a “foreigner” as a Muslim while in Yorkshi between 2008-18 and was close to taking his own life.

Rafiq made 43 allegations about his time at Yorkshi, seven of which were approved by an independent panel, adding that there was no “doubt” that he had suffered racial harassment and harassment.