San Francisco Frontiers - Graves set for Yorkshire return after Rafiq racism row

Colin Graves, Yorkshire's chairman from 2012-15 having first saved the club from commercial collapse in 2002, was given the go ahead to return to his old role at Headingley after members approved a special resolution at an extraordinary general meeting on Friday.

The resolution passed with 746 votes in favour, 88 percent of the votes cast, although the ballot result is still subject to approval by Britain's Financial Conduct Authority.

Once fully ratified the second tranche of a personal, unsecured loan of £1 million ($1.27 million) from Graves will be advanced to the club.

Last month the Yorkshire board, with some £15 million owed to the Graves family trust and insisting several other options were unviable, told the club's members they were recommending a loan offer from Graves "having exhausted all other options".

Graves' return has aroused strong feelings after he gave an interview to Sky Sports last year when he said no one had reported any incidents of racism to him when he was in charge at Yorkshire, although he was aware of "a lot of banter".

The 76-year-old Graves, also a former chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, has since expressed "profound regret" for those remarks.

Rafiq, however, said he did not accept Graves' apology.

Pakistan-born spinner Rafiq went public with allegations of racism and bullying in September 2020, related to his two spells at Yorkshire.

- Administration 'cannot happen' -

But current Yorkshire chairman Harry Chathli told members on Friday: "We as directors would not be discharging our duty of care if we deliberately put this club into administration just because we didn't like a personality. That cannot happen."

Rafiq went public with allegations of racism and bullying in September 2020.

His revelations led the ECB to threaten Yorkshire with the withdrawal of hosting rights for lucrative England matches at the club's Headingley headquarters in Leeds.

They also prompted the creation of an independent inquiry that found officials had failed to tackle institutional racism and sexism in English cricket.

Six former Yorkshire players were found guilty of using racist language in the Rafiq case.

But former England captain Michael Vaughan was cleared of using racist language "on the balance of probabilities" after opting to defend himself at a hearing in March last year.

Yorkshire are one of the most important clubs in English cricket history, with a record 32 outright County Championship titles and a host of England greats, including Len Hutton, Fred Trueman, Geoffrey Boycott and, more recently, Joe Root, to their credit.

The ECB warned last month it was "vital" efforts to tackle discrimination at Yorkshire continued, and that it had "significant powers which can be used to hold Yorkshire to account" if they felt this was not the case.

V.Mitchell--SFF