Colin Graves set to return as Yorkshire Cricket chairman after members' vote
Colin Graves' controversial return as Yorkshire County Cricket Club chairman is virtually complete after members voted to approve his takeover.
Graves, who oversaw the club between 2012 and 2015, has been given the green light to reprise the role after 88% of members backed his return.
The 76-year-old first helped to save the club from financial ruin in 2002 and his loan offer for the cash-strapped club was approved at a heated extraordinary general meeting on Friday.
Graves' previous tenure at Yorkshire coincided with part of the period during which it was later accused of institutional racism.
The club was fined for failing to address the systemic use of discriminatory or racist language.
Three associates of Graves - Phillip Hodson, Sanjay Patel and Sanjeev Gandhi - are also set be appointed to the board as non-executive directors following the passing of the resolution.
The resolution passed with 746 votes in favour.
Graves told members: "I'm giving my personal pledge to you that, regardless of background, community, ethnicity, everybody - and I mean everybody - will be welcome in a very inclusive culture and environment at Yorkshire County Cricket Club.
"There will be no exception."
'Everybody will be welcome'
The vote is subject to approval by the Financial Conduct Authority in the next 12 to 14 days, but once fully ratified the second tranche of a personal, unsecured loan of £1million from Graves will be advanced to the club.
Members have been told the new non-executive directors will then work with the board to arrange further funding of up to £4million over a five-month period.
With almost £15million owed to the Graves family trust and a host of other potential investors no longer at the table, the board said last month it was recommending a loan offer from Graves "having exhausted all other options" in its search for refinancing to avoid entering administration.
Graves' return is controversial following the racism scandal which engulfed the club.
Last month he apologised to anyone who experienced racism at Yorkshire, and expressed "profound regret" at the language he used in an interview with Sky Sports last summer when he said no one had reported racism to him but that there had been "a lot of banter".
Azeem Rafiq, who in 2020 spoke out about the racism he experienced across two spells at Yorkshire, says he does not accept Graves' apology.
He told ITV News previously that the club would be "unsafe" for ethnic minorities if the former chairman returned.
Current chair Harry Chathli said: "We as directors would not be discharging our duty of care if we deliberately put this club into administration just because we didn’t like a personality. That cannot happen."
Chief executive Stephen Vaughan told members: "We have kissed a lot of frogs and been to lots of beauty parades, and we are at a place now where the deal that Colin and his team are bringing to the table is the only one that will keep the business solvent going forward."
The England and Wales Cricket Board warned last month it was "vital" the work done to tackle discrimination at Yorkshire continued, and that it had "significant powers which can be used to hold Yorkshire to account" if that was not found to be the case.
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