It's all kicking off as Andrew Gale offers a blistering attack on the ECB with no punches spared.
The Daily Mail writes, "In a highly-emotional 3,500 statement Gale launches a devastating attack on the ECB, Yorkshire and Julian Knight MP for their handling of the Azeem Rafiq racism affair, which he claimed has left him with no faith that he will receive a fair hearing at Lord's.
This is Gale's first public comment since he was accused of racist abuse and bullying by Rafiq at the DCMS hearing chaired by Knight last November, which led to him being sacked by Yorkshire the following month and charged by the ECB a fortnight ago.
In Gale's statement he says:
: The ECB charged him with racism offences without conducting an interview and refused several
of his requests to set one up, leading him to conclude they are pursuing a witch hunt.
: The ECB are looking for 'scapegoats' as he has twice previously been cleared of the allegations
made by Rafiq, firstly by an independent report from law firm Squire Patton Boggs, whose conclusions
were then reviewed and upheld by an independent panel Yorkshire chairman Lord Kamlesh Patel is
pursuing a 'crusade' against former members of staff, 16 of whom were sacked without warning last
December, many of them only learning of their fate in the Daily Mail.
: Yorkshire have conceded the 16 former staff member's claims of unfair dismissal, as Sportsmail
revealed last month, with the amount of damages awarded to be decided at an Employment Tribunal
in October.
: Rafiq's allegations against him are completely unfounded and have left him angry. Knight failed to
scrutinise Rafiq at the DCMS hearing on the basis that the independent report into his allegations
was 'difficult to read.' On several occasions over the last few months his family have been forced to
move out of their home to avoid violent abuse.
Gale, who has abandoned his 20-year career in cricket and has now set up a joinery business, insists
that he has never been given a fair hearing at any stage in the long-running saga.
He rounds off his blistering attack by stating.
: I deny each and every allegation that Azeem raised with YCCC and then via the ECB suggesting that
I have used racist language and bullied Azeem,'; he said in a statement given to Sportsmail.
: I was originally stunned but I am now angry that he has raised such allegations against me.
: Gale says he supported Rafiq and he even invited him to his family home for dinner on several occasions
during their time together at Yorkshire, but admits they did differ over team selection decisions.
: My differences of opinion with him only related to cricket matters and not race or religion.
: My career in professional cricket was destroyed on the 3 December 2021. My income was cut off and my
temporary coaching role with Hobart Hurricanes was retracted.
The ECB are digging an ever bigger hole for themselves, where the consequences and potential vitriol from
certain sections of county cricket could take a long time to heal.
www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-10964699/Andrew-Gale-claims-ECB-scapegoat-Azeem-Rafiqs-racism-claims.html
