It’s Not Banter, It’s Racism: What Cricket’s Dirty Secret Reveals about Our Society

This is the story of how one cricketer in Yorkshire started a nationwide conversation, putting a spotlight on a society riddled with bias.

Green grass, blue skies, white flannels and the gentle thwack of leather on willow: the quintessential image of Englishness that heralds the start of the cricket season. A so-called gentleman’s game developed with the principle of fair play at its heart. All well and true - unless you’re a person of colour living in Britain today. Azeem Rafiq, the former Yorkshire cricketer and England youth captain, learnt this the hard way.

When, on 16 November 2021, Azeem stood up and courageously spoke out about his experiences of racism at Yorkshire County Cricket Club he was coolly dismissed, told that it was ＂friendly banter＂ and that he was a troublemaker. The case blew up, and millions of people voiced their support for Azeem.

It’s Not Banter, It’s Racism will provide a bracing look at the moments that led up to and defined the watershed meeting where Azeem shared his truth. As well as interviewing key figures involved in the case, Azeem illustrates how the continual denial of racism is sending us backwards as a society, and how pervasive polarisation has become. It is with great sensitivity and determination that Azeem will also unpack his own biases, while also building forgiveness and understanding with the communities he has impacted.

Giving voice to the voiceless, Azeem’s book stands for accountability and honesty in a world that would prefer to cancel and silence.

Azeem Rafiq is a cricketer who played for Yorkshire CCC for two stints between 2008 and 2018. In 2012 he became the first player of Asian origin to captain Yorkshire in a senior game. In September 2020, Rafiq made accusations of racism and bullying at Yorkshire and an independent report found that a number of his accusations were true. The case became a major media story in the United Kingdom. It led to a number of resignations at the club and was the subject of investigations by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee in the British parliament.

George Dobell is an English cricket journalist. He is currently the senior cricket correspondent at The Cricketer magazine. He has written for ESPNcricinfo, SPIN magazine as well as the Guardian, The Times and the Birmingham Post. He has also contributed to the cricket almanac Wisden. Dobell was the ghost writer for the autobiography of former England and Warwickshire cricketer Jonathan Trott. He’s a long-time friend and confidant of Azeem Rafiq.