The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has expressed their disappointment over Colin Graves’ comments on racism faced by cricketers at Yorkshire.

Colin Graves, who was executive chair at the Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 2012 to 2015, had said that he had never witnessed racism at the club during his tenure.

“But I don’t believe it’s institutional racism in Yorkshire … If people can prove it fine, but I don’t think it is institutionally racist as an organisation. I just don’t see it.” said Graves in an interview with Sky Sports.

“I think there’s been odd occasions where words have been said that people may regret afterwards. I don’t think it was done on a racist, savage basis. I think there was a lot of – I know people don’t like the word ‘banter’ – but I think there could have been a lot of banter in there about it, and I know people don’t like that.

“When you play cricket and you’re part of cricket teams, and you’re in cricket dressing rooms, that’s what happened in the past. But the world has changed. Society’s changed. It’s not acceptable, I understand that, I accept it, full stop.”

Graves had been keen on returning as Yorkshire chair as successor to Lord Patel, who resigned from the role this March. Patel had stepped into the role in November 2021 following Richard Hutton’s resignation in the aftermath of Azeem Rafiq’s allegations.

In a statement, the Yorkshire County Cricket Club said: “We note Colin’s position that he was not aware of, or witness to, any racism at Yorkshire and that there existed only ‘banter’. As a Board, we maintain that we needed to accept and take responsibility for the cultural issues which allowed racist and discriminatory behaviour to go unchallenged, and we have accepted four amended charges from the Cricket Discipline Commission.”

The ECB has now tweeted a statement in response to Graves, who used to be their chair until 2020: “We are disappointed to see the comments made by Colin Graves on the historical racism issues at Yorkshire County Club.”

“We must never again hear of accounts like Azeem Rafiq’s, where racist slurs are used as part of normalised everyday language. These events, along with many issues experienced by Azeem and others during their time at Yorkshire have been upheld more than once, including during proceedings overseen by the Cricket Discipline Committee.

The ECB also did not mince words while taking a stance on branding racism as ‘banter’: “We vehemently disagree that this is ‘just banter’ and believe that any debate in that regard should stop immediately. Racism isn’t banter.”

At the same time, they acknowledged the rich history of the club, whose 33 titles are unmatched in the history of the County Championship: “Yorkshire is of huge importance to cricket in England and Wales with a deep history and an ability to inspire and connect all cricket fans. They are currently working hard to resolve their financial and cultural challenges and the club, and its new management, have our full support.”

ECB statement in response to Colin Graves’ interview with Sky Sports News pic.twitter.com/jX5nKhwg9a

— England and Wales Cricket Board (@ECB_cricket) June 12, 2023