competence to establish probative findings on
crucial questions of truth?
This is why I wasn’t surprised to see Sajid
Javid second-guessing the report into Yorkshire
CCC, despite not being party to all the evidence.
In a different era, this would have been
astounding, a senior minister disputing the
findings of an inquiry when he hadn’t heard all
the evidence, thereby calling into question the
reputations of dozens of people. But, in these
circumstances, who can blame him?
And this is why it seems legitimate to ask: was
the Yorkshire panel truly independent? Had any
of them received hospitality at the club? Were
any in contact with the executive committee
while the inquiry was progressing? I know that
some will feel uncomfortable about asking these
questions, but panel members are accountable
too. Accountable to those affected by the
investigation and, most importantly, to the
society that looks to such processes to safeguard
the sanctity of due process.
In the coming weeks, new reputations will be
on the line, not least Vaughan, Martyn Moxon,
Yorkshire’s director of cricket, and Mark Arthur,
the chief executive. I hope that the evidence
against them is assessed without prejudice, that
they and their accusers are given a fair hearing,
and that verdicts are reached without fear or
favour.
This is what due process means, and why it is
so precious. Without it, we are left only with the
arbitrary justice of Twitter. And that is no justice
at all.Aussie players bothered to engage, and not a
single player was named beyond the three who
had already fessed up. This wasn’t an
independent inquiry; it was a whitewash. It is
inconceivable that the Australian bowlers didn’t
know what was going on, but an embarrassed
silence has descended over the whole affair. The
Aussie board simply says: “Oh, we’ve had an
inquiry. Case closed.” And this is why I wasn’t
surprised that this toxic culture reasserted itself
this year when Steve Smith scuffed up the
crease while in the field and Tim Paine
abused opponents.
I also feel there were serious flaws in the
inquiry into allegations of bullying against the
former swimming coach Bill Sweetenham (he
was exonerated, despite powerful evidence, with
the findings never published) and the
“independent” Fifa report into World Cup
bidding. In the latter case, Russia and Qatar
were, laughably, exonerated over allegations of
corruption. My point isn’t that inquiries always
exonerate, or always convict, but that one is left
with the sense that there are dynamics behind
the scenes that compromise their independence,
competence or both.
Yet whatever you think of the specifics of
these cases — and I could name half a dozen
more — I hope you can see the more insidious
danger? When independent panels and judicial
bodies fail to do their job to plausible standards,
confidence in due process itself is weakened.
Why would people wait for the findings of an
inquiry if they suspect that these bodies lack theT
here has been a lot of talk, rightly,
about the failures of Yorkshire County
Cricket Club, belatedly addressed by
the new chairman, Lord Patel of
Bradford, on Monday. But here’s a
question I keep pondering: what about Dr Samir
Pathak, Stephen Willis, Rehana Azib, Mesba
Ahmed and Helen Hyde, the members of the
independent panel that concluded (if reports are
to be believed, and they haven’t been denied)
that “P**i” could be used as “friendly
banter” in much the same way as “Zimbo”?
I find my credulity strained to breaking
point and, frankly, beyond.
Let us, for the moment, skirt
around those on social media who
say that there is no difference
between the P word and
abbreviations such as Scot and Brit. I
doubt that anything I say here will
change their minds, so permit me to
focus on those already capable of grasping
this distinction and why it matters. We are
still left with a vast gap between what we
know about this word and what the report
says. And it is frankly nigh on impossible
to understand how additional context
could bridge this gap.
And this brings me to a point that is —
to my mind — even more important than
racism. I am talking about our faith in due
process, the capacity of judicial and quasi-
judicial bodies to deliver adjudications that
pass some minimum test of credibility. Most
right-minded people abhor arbitrary justice.
We hate the way that the mob rule of
Twitter is encroaching upon the lives and
livelihoods of real people, the way that
allegations can be magnified by algorithms
Sport
What happened
to public’s right to
know the truth?
to the point where moral precepts such as the
presumption of innocence seem almost quaint
in comparison.
How often have we seen people sacked in the
time it takes a meme to go viral, reputations
destroyed in ways that undermine any
conception of natural justice? We know this in
sport too, from Sam Allardyce to Mark
Sampson: people tried, convicted and sentenced
by keyboard warriors thirsty for blood and
whose evisceration merely adds to the lust for
new victims. Michael Vaughan, who was
trending throughout the weekend, and has been
dropped from his BBC radio show, for
allegations that haven’t been tested, let alone
proved, may understand my point.
But the only way to resist this seemingly
unstoppable tide is for inquiries and other forms
of arbitration to come up with credible
conclusions. This is what gives people like me
and, I hope, you the courage to urge patience
on the mob, to ask for time to explore what
really happened. One thinks of previous
scandals involving everyone
from Richard Scudamore to Max
Mosley.
And yet what if these panels are
serially inadequate? I have
followed a few in sport with
particular interest and many
have been, frankly, risible. Take
the “independent” report into
“sandpapergate”, when Steve Smith,
Cameron Bancroft and David
Warner admitted to being involved
in ball-tampering during a series in
South Africa. This was an opportunity
to discover how deep the rot went, who
in the coaching staff knew, who sanctioned
the behaviour and how long it had been
going on. These were minimum
requirements to get to grips with the
cultural problems in Australian cricket.
Instead we were presented with a 147-page
report, with which only 24 per cent of theMatthew Syed
Bancroft and Smith were caught cheating but an investigation strangely exonerated their team-matesYorkshire’s inquiry into the Rafiq accusations
came up with less-than-convincing conclusionsSTR/AFP/GETTY IMAGESspinner. The exodus began with the
chairman, Roger Hutton, quitting last
week, and under the new chairmanship
of Lord Patel of Bradford more mem-
bers of the Yorkshire hierarchy are
expected to fall on their sword.
Patel said: “We are aware that, since I
spoke yesterday [Monday], a number of
allegations have been made from indi-
viduals about their experiences in the
media. These need to be properly inves-
tigated.”
On Gale, who twice led Yorkshire to
the County Championship as captain
before being appointed head coach in
2016, Yorkshire said: “We can confirm
that Andrew Gale is currently suspend-
ed pending a disciplinary hearing
following an historic tweet. The club
will make a further statement once this
process has been completed.”
The 37-year-old will come under pres-
sure to quit, as the county tries to dem-
continued from back
The European Tour has rebranded
itself as the $200 million DP World
Tour in what many will regard as an
attempt to fend off the threat posed by
Saudi Arabia.
Days after Greg Norman was con-
firmed as the frontman for the
$200 million (about £150 million) Saudi
investment in the Asian Tour, European
chiefs revealed they had a Dubai-based
title sponsor and the biggest prize fund
in their history of at least $200 million,
almost double this year’s purse. Rory
McIlroy, who had said that he would not
play in a Saudi-backed super league,
called it “great news for global golf”.
There will be at least 47 tournaments
in 27 countries with a minimum of
$2 million prize money at those solely
sanctioned by the DP World Tour,
while the Scottish Open will be one of
three tournaments co-sanctioned with
the PGA Tour, an alliance aimed atTour bids to nullify Saudi threat
Golf
Rick Broadbentprotecting the tours against disrupters.
The season-ending DP World Tour
Championship will be worth
$10 million, making it the first eight-fig-
ure event in the Tour’s history.
Norman, who is expected to become
the commissioner of a Saudi-backed
super league, had said that European
players had been enthusiastic about the
initial ten tournaments. That makes the
European Tour’s announcement a
timely one, albeit one a long time in
negotiating.
DP World, headed by Sultan Ahmed
bin Sulayem, is a port and cargo corpo-
ration owned by the Dubai government
and operating in more than 40 states
and countries, including Saudi Arabia.
It has been the sponsor of the Race to
Dubai’s season finale since 2012.
Keith Pelley, the European Tour
chief executive, said: “This will herald
a new era in global golf, and crucially it
will benefit everybody involved.
The entire ecosystem of our tour will be
strengthened.”Yorkshire face £1m bill for staff cull
onstrate to the ECB that they have made
the necessary changes to stop the gov-
erning body taking any further action.
Yorkshire have been suspended from
hosting international matches until they
can demonstrate they meet the
“requirements expected of a first-class
county and international host venue”.
Arthur has been at Yorkshire since
2013 and led the county during the
15-month investigation into Rafiq’s
allegations of institutional racism. It is
understood he will receive a significant
payoff and that Yorkshire are facing a
bill of more than £1 million in settle-
ments for employees who are likely to
resign or be removed, further deepen-
ing their financial crisis after their main
sponsors cut ties with the county.
He is unlikely to be the last of the
resignations. Moxon, the former York-
shire batsman, is understood to be one
of the club’s employees to have received
threats of violence, which have been
passed on to the police for investi-gation. Yorkshire said the 61-year-old
was being given “the necessary
support” as he is “absent from work due
to a stress-related illness” but he could
soon follow Arthur out of the door.
Rafiq has received a six-figure out-of-
court settlement, bringing to an end the
employment tribunal proceedings he
was pursuing against Yorkshire.
The latest chapter comes amid
further allegations by former players of
racial abuse suffered while playing
against Yorkshire. Bilal Shafayat, 37, the
former Nottinghamshire batsman,
posted on social media that he had been
told: “You smell of curry, you smelly
curry eater... you little shit.” He added:
“I remember an ex @yorkshireccc fast
bowler followed through in his run-up
and tried to abuse me.”
Chris Philp, the minister for culture,
said yesterday that the government
was ready “to take action” if it was
not satisfied with the ECB and York-
shire’s response.the times | Wednesday November 10 2021 2GM 55