They pinned me down: Azeem Rafiq tells harrowing incident of being forced to drink wine by clubmates

Azeem Rafiq, the former Yorkshire cricketer who was called on November 16 by the Select Parliament committee to investigate his claims of institutional racism at Yorkshire County Cricket Club, said that he was forced to drink red win eat the age of 15 even when he didn’t want to. And that it was one of the many incidents where he didn’t raise his voice and tried to fit in with others because he wanted to play cricket. 

"My first incident of drinking, I was 15, I got pinned down at my local cricket club and had red wine poured down my throat. The player played for Yorkshire and Hampshire. I felt like I had to drink to fit in. I regret that massively, but it has no bearing on the things I was called,” said Rafiq in his statement to the cross-party committee set up on the request of the Departement of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. 

Clearing his stance, the 30-year-old further added, "I have been clear from the offset that I wasn't perfect. There were things I did that I felt I had to do to fit in, and I am not proud of them.”

In the entire hearing, Rafiq revealed how racism is ingrained in the entire system and though he faced it at Yorkshire, he thought that it would be present all throughout the county structure. Rafiq, who quit cricket for good two years ago, just at the age of 28 said that he ‘just wanted to live my dream and my family's dream’ but racism ruined it all.