Former England cricket star Matthew Hoggard has revealed that his wife was left feeling 'suicidal' after he was caught up in the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal.
Hoggard, 48, says that he was 'cancelled massively' after being found guilty by an England and Wales Cricket Board commission of four offences related to allegedly using racist or discriminatory language in 2023. Although he'd retired years before, the 2005 Ashes winner was also fined £4,000 and banned from cricket, having been team-mates with Rafiq playing for Yorkshire.
The bulk of Rafiq's complaints related to his second spell at the club, a while after Hoggard had left for Leicestershire. But he also alleged that during his first stint, Hoggard was part of a dressing room where racist terms would be thrown around as banter.
The ex-fast bowler believes that the ECB's handling of the scandal was 'absolutely disgusting', with Rafiq's allegations ending up in Parliament. Hoggard has now opened up on how the scandal affected his family, particularly wife Sarah.
"She was suicidal, really," he told the Telegraph. "I knew how the defibrillator worked in the village, and where it was, and I knew what pills she had in case I came downstairs and she wasn't… (trails off) Yeah it was horrible, absolutely horrible."
The 48-year-old added: "It ruined me and my family for a year, maybe longer. We had so many deals lined up for this place, with big brands. As soon as that hit the fan, then it was, 'No, no we can't work with you', and I got cancelled massively.
"I didn't want to leave the house. I didn't want to go to a room that had more than two people in it, because I thought as soon as I walked in, everybody was judging me. Everybody was, 'There comes the racist'.
"I was a recluse. Gradually, I came out because people said to me behind closed doors they didn't believe a word of it but they couldn't say that in public because the race word had been used and everybody is scared. And that then has an effect on you. 'You can't work there, you can't work there, you can't work there'."
Hoggard, who currently runs his own cooking school in the east Midlands village of Oakham, also claimed: "The way the ECB handled it, I thought was absolutely disgusting, the way Parliament jumped on to it was hard. It was kids' playground stuff but it got to Parliament! I grew up in the 1980s, 1990s.
"There's things that were said then that make you cringe. Hi-de-Hi comes with a warning now. Little Britain, Harry Enfield and Chums, Ali G. They wouldn't survive now because everything is very woke. Looking back on that changing room, there was nothing wrong with it.
"I was put under a bit of pressure from the PCA (Professional Cricketers' Association) and the ECB to come out and issue an apology. I went, 'No', because if I apologise, I admit that what happened in the changing room was wrong. I was adamant that what happened in that changing room wasn’t bullying, it wasn't victimisation, it wasn't racism. I wasn't having it."
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