Azeem Rafiq: Michael Vaughan says he is sorry for hurt former team-mate has suffered

The ex-England captain spoke to Dan Walker.

Michael Vaughan apologized for the hurt Azeem Rafiq has gone through during the Yorkshire racism scandal.

In an interview with the BBC, he denied the claim and said he never made racist comments while at Yorkshire.

He admitted that he had sent some wrong messages.

It hurts me that a player has gone through so much at the club that they treat him badly.

I have to take some responsibility for that because I played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club for 18 years and if in any way shape or form I'm responsible for any of his hurt, I apologize for that."

He said that he didn't make any racist comments during his time at Yorkshire. No.

In 2003 and 2008, he was the captain of England. He was a summariser on the Test Match Special before playing his entire career at Yorkshire.

In an interview with Dan Walker, Michael Vaughan said that he wouldn't be part of the coverage of the winter's cricket.

Cricket had a problem with racism.
He had never heard racist language used in the dressing room, but had heard things that are not acceptable now.
He would like to help Yorkshire move forward.
He hoped to return to commentary with the BBC next year.

The alleged racist incident is under investigation.

Rafiq said that he and three other Yorkshire players were told "too many of you lot, we need to do something about it."

Rafiq's account was supported by Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Adil Rashid, who said they heard the comment.

The fourth player in the group, bowler Ajmal Shahzad, told the Daily Mail that the senior guys were good to him.

He did not participate in the original independent investigation, and he did not remember the incident.

He said that he was proud that four Asian players were representing Yorkshire County Cricket Club.

I was very happy that Yorkshire had come so far in my time at the club, as I was about to retire.

Rafiq said that the incident doesn't mean anything to him and that he might not remember it.

"That hurts because I've always felt that every single team that I've been involved in, the biggest praise I've got as England captain for six years was that I was the kind of person that really galvanised the group."

I felt that I was the person in the dressing room who wanted everyone to feel included.

The problem with this situation is that we've got too much 'he said, he said, she said, did they say' and I think we've got to move on from accusations of conversations from many.

There's a bigger picture here.

Vaughan was embarrassed by a historic post.

The recent weeks have seen a lot of historical posts on social media.

In 2010 he said "Not many English people live in London" and in the aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing, he answered "yes" to a question about whether England all-rounder Moeen Ali should ask Muslims if they are terrorists.

He said that he was a different person after he was embarrassed by the tweets.

"I apologize to anyone that I've offended with those statements," he said.

I regret those things that have happened. I apologize for the mistakes I've made on the social networking site.

Walker: Do you think it's embarrassing when you read back those things?

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,

You feel like a different person now.

Absolutely.

The Yorkshire players have been criticized for referring to India batter Steve as "Steve" because they can't say his first name correctly.

"We're in different times now," he said.

Three years ago, that was how much time has passed.

Everything is moving quickly when you start talking about a long time.

Everyone needs to be educated in the sporting dressing rooms, not just cricket dressing rooms.

I heard things you wouldn't consider acceptable now.

Rafiq told the committee that English cricket is "institutionally racist".

He said that during his time at Yorkshire, racist language was used constantly and never stopped.

During Rafiq's second season as a professional at Yorkshire, former player Michael Vaughan said he had never heard racist language used in the dressing room.

He said that he heard a lot of things when he was a player in the dressing room.

I don't think any sports person from that era is telling the truth.

There were things said in the past. It wasn't considered offensive. It would be now.

If I was involved in a dressing room that was not inclusive for everyone, I would apologize.

My recollections are all the dressing rooms that I was in. I'm happy for people to come forward and say that wasn't the case.

On his future.

Last week, it was announced that the cricket coverage would not be part of the winter season.

While he is involved in a significant story in cricket, for editorial reasons we do not believe that it would be appropriate for him to be involved.

He and the cooperation are having ongoing conversations about his future.

I hope I get the chance to come back and talk cricket again, it's been my favorite thing since I retired.

I hope to get back to working with the team next year.

I would love to be on Test Match Special again.