Yorkshire support unstinting for Gale

Andrew Gale, a Yorkshire captain metaphorically holding a Championship trophy in one hand and allegations of racist abuse in the other, stood before a members' forum in the Headingley Long Room and awaited judgment. Not the judgment of the ECB: for that we must wait a little longer. In Yorkshire, more than most places, the judgment of your kith and kin is what matters most of all. As if confirmation was needed, appreciative applause confirmed that support remained unstinting.

Unstinting, but not entirely uncritical, because a few members have been heard to bemoan the mess Gale has brought upon himself by his rant at Ashwell Prince in the Roses match. Words that will now be forever etched on Yorkshire's history and which, whatever the outcome, will tarnish his own career.

Colin Graves, the Yorkshire chairman, has stood back from Yorkshire's defence of Gale because of his conflict of interest as vice chairman of the ECB. But a Yorkshireman's vow of silence is the last promise to put your mortgage on. Graves, who famously saved Yorkshire from bankruptcy 12 years ago, said: "I did it for people like Andrew Gale. For me that is what cricket is all about: prizing the tradition of players who have developed into England players. To win the Championship is one of the proudest days I have had in my life."

Actually what he seemed to say, if you were stood at the back of the room, was: "People…Gale about…players... life," because the microphone was perpetually on the blink. Dangerous rumours could have taken hold that Graves had said something about not wanting people like Gale about; that he'd had enough of players like him in his life.

"Any more questions?" the room was asked.

"When are you going to buy a new microphone?"

Yorkshire priorities are nothing if not practical.

Gale, too, emphasized Yorkshire's commitment to developing England players. "How are we going to cope when England come calling again?" he was asked. "We have to find the next lot," he said. "We are not going to bring in any extra players from overseas. We pride ourselves in our academy. Ultimately, our job is to provide England with players and we have to accept that."

There were some in the Long Room who will swear blind that when Gale ranted at Prince to "F*** off back to your own country you Kolpak f*****," his hostility to Prince voiced not racism, or xenophobia, or even antagonism, but a crudely expressed belief in Yorkshire's commitment to player development.

It is the lawyers who now hold sway and as Gale faced the members, behind the scenes, lawyers representing Yorkshire and the ECB were involved in a preliminary skirmish about the form the hearing should take.

With none of the four main protagonists - the two umpires, who opted for a Level 2 charge of offensive and abusive behaviour - or the two batsmen, Prince and Usman Khawaja, who both have been unwilling to condemn Gale publicly, it would be no surprise to find that the ECB is already considering a possible retreat from a charge of racism - perhaps even before the envisaged hearing next month.

So there were no apologies, no hints of regret, no vague metaphors tossed into the room as a show of mitigation. Instead, Graves announced he had set Yorkshire a formidable challenge. "This could be the start of a new era," he said. "The target I am setting is for Yorkshire to dominate county cricket for the next 10 years." He wants mass recruitment, "bums on seats", and victory after victory in all competitions to help make a sizeable hole in the £22m debts. No pressure there then.

Some find Yorkshire's unyielding approach too stubborn for their tastes, although it would be naïve to presume that lawyers were not exploring potential concessions. Others will now imagine that after only one title in 13 years hubris is already taking hold. The old line: "You can always tell a Yorkshireman but you can't tell him much," the joke that defines the county, will again be doing the rounds.

Such criticism would have been shrugged aside in the Long Room. There was no sign of burning resentment from the members on Gale's behalf, no calls to man the barricades (hard admittedly as Yorkshire refused to take questions on the matter). There was just an overriding sense that Yorkshire supporters, to adopt a phrase used by my Granny, who to admit a conflict of interests hailed from a farm in Bilsdale on Yorkshire's northern outskirts, had concluded that the ECB charge was "stuff and nonsense".

But, as a God-fearing woman, she would have been disgusted by his language.