I say this in the light of the scandal now rocking cricket which has seen Yorkshire, arguably England’s biggest and most successful cricketing county, split asunder by a row which has seen them mired in racism.

It is something which has been festering for years but suddenly has exploded, smearing the county like fiery molten lava from a volcano.

While I admit I am as shaken as most of the nation by this I am not altogether surprised, having worked in the north of England, including Yorkshire, some years ago. Up there they quite often look at things differently to us southerners.

Words are to be spouted openly, not merely minced and sometimes this can be misinterpreted. Such blunt speaking can seem curmudgeonly, and what they consider banter can be deemed by others as not only shockingly rude, but racist.

At least that’s what the fiercely independent Yorkshire County Cricket Club would have us believe when they attempted to stem his recent eruption.

This is what’s left them as the sport’s pariahs, forcing the resignation of several Board members, including the chairman, and only yesterday, the chief executive, who must now answer to a Parliamentary enquiry to be held in Westminster on Tuesday (November 16).

Joe Root, the captain of England who himself plays for Yorkshire is among those calling for sweeping changes following their fallout from allegations of institutional racism by former player Azeem Rafiq who is of Pakistani heritage. He says they even drove him to the brink of suicide.

Rafiq is among those due to give evidence to the Parliamentary Committee. He says he will cite several examples of racist abuse towards himself and other Asian players at Yorkshire, who held an initial inquiry into the allegations, and while accepting some of the findings, offered no apology and declined to take any disciplinary action.

The club which has produced a host of cricketing greats, including former England captain Sir Len Hutton and flamboyant fast bowler Freddie Truman, has been under increasing pressure to make changes from the top.

The position of chief executive Mark Arthur seemed to become untenable and his departure followed that of chairman Roger Hutton who resigned last week, calling for both Arthur and the club’s director of cricket, Martyn Moxon to do the same. 

Moxon has been signed off with stress related illness while head coach Andrew Gale is on suspension pending an investigation into an offensive, but unrelated, historic tweet. Rafiq had earlier reiterated his calls for mass departures at Headingley, tweeting: "Everyone needs to go."

It is an understatement to say that what has been going on in Yorkshire it’s just not cricket. As a result of these allegations of racism Headingley, the most famous ground in English cricket outside of Lord’s itself, has been temporarily banned from hosting Test matches until the outcome and several major sponsorship deals have been withdrawn leaving the club, as one Board member put it, racism on the brink of bankruptcy.

While current England captain Root insists he has no recollection of any examples of racism he said in a statement: "I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting. There is no debate about racism, no one side or another. It is simply intolerable.

"These events have fractured our game and torn lives apart. I want to see changes and actions that will see Yorkshire County Cricket club rise from this with a culture that harnesses a diverse environment with trust across all communities that support cricket in the county."

Some of the biggest names during Root’s time with Yorkshire have seen claims made against them. His close friend Michael Vaughan, another former England captain, denies making an offensive comment to a group of Asian teammates - said to have included the phrase "you lot" over a decade ago and former flatmate Gary Ballance has admitted making a "racial slur" against Rafiq. Most of the allegations concern the use of the word "Paki."

Root adds: "I can only speak from personal experiences. But it is clear things have happened at the club and we have to make sure we eradicate them. We look to find ways to make sure this never happens again in the sport and beyond back in society."

Racism like the use of drugs, continues to be great foe of sportsmanship. Also something which cricket, supposedly the very epitome of fair play, must find particularly hard to stomach. Humble pie is a long way from being as tasty as Yorkshire pudding.

Times change of course and what might be wrong and dismissed as banter years ago is totally unacceptable now. But without casting any aspersions I’m saying that my experience of working with, and amid Yorkshire folk is that generally they are good hearted and well-meaning yet frustratingly insular and firm in their belief that candidness is next to Godliness.

I can quote a couple of examples of so-called "Yorkshireness" originally thought to be apocryphal but repeated too many times for them not to be true. The first concerned a legendary Yorkshire cricketer, now deceased, seated at a post Test series dinner given for the England cricket team at a Maharaja’s Palace in India some years back.

One of those present maintains this chap bellowed down the table at his bejewelled, turbaned host "Hey, Gunga Din”.Pass effin’ salt!"

That tale has long since passed into cricketing lore. Another came from a journalist pal who says he walked out of the ground of a Yorkshire football club together with the club chairman, also no longer with us, whose team had fielded one of the first black players in English football.

He commiserated with the chairman over the clubs home defeat. "Aye," came the terse response . "Trouble was, n….r were off tonight."

As I say, that was then, this is now. Times have changed, even in Yorkshire. Or have they?