Former Yorkshire cricketer Azeem Rafiq calls on FA president Prince William to speak out about the conclusion of former Crawley Town boss John Yems' investigation

An independent Regulatory Commission has suspended John Yems from all football and football-related activity up to and including 1 June 2024, and ordered him to attend an education programme for 12 breaches of FA Rule E3.2.

After a full summary was released by the FA yesterday (Tuesday, January 17), the organisation released another statement today saying: “The FA brought 16 charges of discrimination against John Yems. The independent regulatory commission decided on an 18-month ban for the 12 charges which it upheld or was admitted. We had requested a longer ban. Based on the evidence presented to the commission, we fundamentally disagree with the independent panel’s finding that this was not a case of conscious racism. As a result, we are considering our legal options.”

That statement came after a backlash against the FA with the independent panel deeming Yems, ‘not a conscious racist’.

LBC Radio discussed the issue and Rafiq joined Shelagh Fogarty’s show.

In 2021, Rafiq was found to have been the victim of racial harassment and bullying while he was a player at Yorkshire County Cricket Club.

Shelagh Fogarty asked Rafiq: “I wonder if it will cause problems for Price William and by that, I mean given what’s gone on previously with the Royal family and Harry and Meghan and Lady Susan Hussey and all of those stories, whether he will look at his roll as president of the FA and think ‘well I am sitting at the top of this and this is what these people have said about this incident or these series of incidents’ and he has to stand by them as colleagues essentially as president. Do you think he should act?”

Rafiq replied: “If you don’t act, silence is accepting it,. As a leader of that organisation, there’s an opportunity to make it clear where you stand on the issue. I feel like the FA should be apologising for that conclusion and then appealing against it. People say the ban has happened but it’s not just about the ban, it’s the language and for me Prince William should be making a comment or even considering his position. Standing shoulder to shoulder in this situation with an organisation that thinks some of that language that was said is banter in any way, it’s a scary place to be.”