Former England captain Michael Vaughan set to defend himself in Yorkshire racism case

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan will defend himself on the second day of the public hearing for the Yorkshire racism case. Vaughan is facing charges for allegedly using racially discriminatory language for former Yorkshire player Azeem Rafiq.

Besides Vaughan, his fellow former Yorkshire players Matthew Hoggard, Tim Bresnan, John Blain, Andrew Gale, and Richard Pyrah are also facing charges in the case.

The first part of proceedings on Thursday, March 2, were private. The cases of Gale and Pyrah were set to be heard by the independent Cricket Discipline Commission panel in the morning. The cases have been live-streamed to accredited journalists inside the court.

Vaughan arrived at the International Arbitration Centre earlier in the day for his hearing. He is the only one who has been charged by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for bringing the game into disrepute. He also wants to attend the CDC hearing over the next week.

During the hearing, Rafiq first spoke about his experience of racial harassment across two stints with the county in 2020. Concerning this, the ECB brought charges against seven individuals, and Yorkshire, in June 2022. 

It is to be learned that, Vaughan allegedly said to a group of Asian players that there were “too many of you lot, we need to do something about it”. Meanwhile, the 48-year-old denies the charge. Hoggard, Bresnan, Blain, Gale, and Pyrah did not attend the hearing, which CDC chair Tim O’Gorman said was “regrettable”.

However, the ECB set out the cases against Hoggard, Bresnan, and Blain on Wednesday. The board also set out its cases against Gale and Pyrah in the morning before moving on to Vaughan.

During the hearing, the ECB lawyer Jane Mulcahy KC said the “systemic use of racist or discriminatory language at Yorkshire during the relevant period made it “more likely than not” that racist language was used by all three.

Hoggard allegedly used the term ‘P***’ when referring to Asian players, Mulcahy said, “increased the likelihood of other words or phrases of racist or discriminatory meaning being used”.

However, Hoggard admitted using the term but denied any racist or discriminatory intent and Bresnan denied describing Asian women – including Rafiq’s sister Amna – as a “fit P***” or “FP”, and Blain denied calling Pakistani players ‘P***’ and ‘P***s’.