Azeem Rafiq's racism revelations mark 'sad day for cricket'
16 November 2021, 18:57 | Updated: 16 November 2021, 22:22
Human rights lawyer fumes over Rafiq revelations
Eddie Mair was moved by this human rights lawyer's assessment of cricketer Azeem Rafiq's shocking allegations against the world of cricket.
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Azeem Rafiq spoke in front of the Sport Select Committee today to detail the extent of cricket's institutional problem of racism. To reflect on the former Yorkshire cricketer's horrific testimony, Eddie Mair was joined by human rights lawyer Mohammed Patel.
"I suffered considerable racism at school. I was a victim of p-bashing and the p-word," he told Eddie, explaining how deeply he was affected by Mr Rafiq's testimony.
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Mr Patel told LBC listeners of the "trauma" that resurfaced for him today as the cricketer spoke in shocking detail of the abuse he suffered throughout his career.
"Today is a very, very sad day indeed for cricket."
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In order to cope with the revelations of Mr Rafiq, the human rights lawyer told told Eddie that he had to "jump back into faith" to make sense of the news.
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"I will always remember today as 'us and them', it was very clear in the evidence that Mr Rafiq gave that there's, I'm sorry to say, an us and them in this country.
"The them are those who perpetrate what's been heard today and then it's me and my community who are victims of this oppression."
