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Two Yorkshire members are campaigning to force the troubled club to hold an emergency general meeting following Azeem Rafiq’s allegations of racism.
It takes Chris Marshall and James Himsworth 400 members to support their call as they seek to challenge the existing hierarchy both in terms of how to deal with former player Rafiq’s demands and their overall leadership.
They currently have the support of around 100 and are now encouraging others to join them by contacting us at disgruntledmembers@outlook.com to initiate change.
A day after Chairman Roger Hutton stepped down, Marshall told the PA news agency, “We can’t let them mix the same pack and leave the same Jokers in.
“There has to be a major change on the board. We believe that Members, more than anything, need to have a far greater say in determining what gives them confidence and comfort in the way Yorkshire is run in the future.
“We believe Yorkshire needs this because they are bleeding members. Many members felt that the right thing to do is not to renew or to say they will not renew and that helps them.
“It doesn’t really help the club, and it doesn’t help the people who want the club to grow, so let’s take another push to make sure people see that even the threat of an extraordinary general meeting can make them to listen to us. “and to listen to more people.”
Hutton’s resignation came after it was revealed that a report in Rafiq’s complaint admitted that a player had used the word “P ***” in reference to him, but Yorkshire dismissed it as a “friendly banter”.
After sponsors severed ties with the county and former English batsman Gary Ballance admitted using “a racial slur” against Rafiq, the ECB suspended Ballance from English selection and Yorkshire from hosting international matches.
Former England captain Michael Vaughan announced that he was also named in the report but denied making a racist comment and the club plunged deeper and deeper into controversy.
Marshall said, “Yorkshire is a master at locking the hatches and letting the storm blow in and ignoring the damage it does.
We want the board to be much more inclusive in all communities, and that includes membership.
Yorkshire member Chris Marshall
“We believe that the board of directors needs to be much more representative of the communities in which Yorkshire operates.
“As with many clubs, it is good at the grassroots level. The coaching system and the inclusivity and everything at the base is good, it just doesn’t come through this hierarchy of traditional, established procedures.
“We want the board to be much more inclusive in all communities, and that includes membership.”
Activists fear that failure to deal with the club’s governance could ultimately threaten its very existence.
Marshall said, “Part of the concern is that with all of this talk about the ECB thinking that it needs to cut counties because 18 are unsustainable and introducing the hundred and two subdivisions for them would be easy one To let the bat slip. “
Meanwhile, another former English captain, Mike Atherton, has spoken of his sadness about the situation.
Atherton told Sky Sports, “It’s a real mess up there and it’s so sad to see.
“When you think of Yorkshire, this is the largest county cricket club in the country, really, with all the cricketers they have produced for Yorkshire and England, the historic games played in this great stadium and the cricket culture this county.
“The hope has to be that by changing leadership and changing culture and approach, they can get this to the other side, but they have to change and it has to become a place where everyone feels welcome.”
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