The Yorkshire County Cricket Club revelations shook the cricket world earlier this week. The ongoing saga about the systematic racism across all levels of the club made headlines for all the wrong reasons, with the entire cricketing community calling out the club for its botched handling of the investigation.
A movement started by former club captain Azeem Rafiq in 2020, Yorkshire have been criticised time and again for their way of dealing with things. For example, in the investigation report, the club claimed that racial slurs from a Yorkshire player was ‘friendly banter’ and should have been taken in the same spirit.
Speaking from the UAE to ESPNcricinfo, England international Moeen Ali extended his support to Rafiq and stated that his actions would encourage a lot of players to speak out against racism.
"I wouldn't say I'm surprised but there's probably more stories out there that people haven't heard of," Moeen said. "The fact it's come out is great because, going forward, people [will] have to think about what they can or can't say in terms of discriminating against people and knowing what people feel and go through."
The left handed batsman said that destigmatising mental health was the need of the hour and said that Rafiq’s persistence would be aiding that conversation.
"What Azeem has done, he is not doing it for any personal gain, I think he wants change and that's what he's pushing for.”
Ali said that the unfolding of the saga had become a part of “open discussion” in the English dressing room and that the team is taking learnings from these conversations.
Everybody has a story in our changing room about their own background and it helps with people coming from all different parts of the world as well," he added.
"Massive credit goes to the coaches and Eoin Morgan for really pushing it so that everybody's just normal with each other. It just feels like home to be honest with you."