header-logo header-logo

Racism in cricket—whose liability?

Alastair Gillespie examines whether cricketer Azeem Rafiq could bring a claim for vicarious liability
  • What legal remedies are available to Azeem Rafiq, whose promising career as a cricketer was held back by racist abuse?
  • Suggests vicarious liability for negligence might be worth pursuing.

Cricket has featured heavily on the front pages of our national newspapers in the past year, and very much for the wrong reasons. The detailed and emotive testimony of Azeem Rafiq to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) committee captivated and appalled observers. Rafiq described a catalogue of what was, on his account, patently racist abuse. That abuse, he says, left him, isolated, humiliated and battling with thoughts of taking his own life. His evidence portrayed a sport in which a culture of humiliation, intimidation and racism, generally passed off by its proponents and practitioners as workplace banter, had been endemic for so many years that it ran through establishments such as Yorkshire County Cricket Club (Yorkshire) like the writing on a stick of Blackpool rock. The

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan—Andrew Savage

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan—Andrew Savage

Firm expands London disputes practice with senior partner hire

Druces—Lisa Cardy

Druces—Lisa Cardy

Senior associate promotion strengthens real estate offering

Charles Russell Speechlys—Robert Lundie Smith

Charles Russell Speechlys—Robert Lundie Smith

Leading patent litigator joins intellectual property team

NEWS
The government’s plan to introduce a Single Professional Services Supervisor could erode vital legal-sector expertise, warns Mark Evans, president of the Law Society of England and Wales, in NLJ this week
Writing in NLJ this week, Jonathan Fisher KC of Red Lion Chambers argues that the ‘failure to prevent’ model of corporate criminal responsibility—covering bribery, tax evasion, and fraud—should be embraced, not resisted
Professor Graham Zellick KC argues in NLJ this week that, despite Buckingham Palace’s statement stripping Andrew Mountbatten Windsor of his styles, titles and honours, he remains legally a duke
Writing in NLJ this week, Sophie Ashcroft and Miranda Joseph of Stevens & Bolton dissect the Privy Council’s landmark ruling in Jardine Strategic Ltd v Oasis Investments II Master Fund Ltd (No 2), which abolishes the long-standing 'shareholder rule'
In NLJ this week, Sailesh Mehta and Theo Burges of Red Lion Chambers examine the government’s first-ever 'Afghan leak' super-injunction—used to block reporting of data exposing Afghans who aided UK forces and over 100 British officials. Unlike celebrity privacy cases, this injunction centred on national security. Its use, the authors argue, signals the rise of a vast new body of national security law spanning civil, criminal, and media domains
back-to-top-scroll