The chairman of Essex County Cricket Club has resigned following an allegation that he used racist language at a board meeting in 2017. John Faragher, who strongly denies the incident took place, stepped down on Thursday evening, and Essex will now review why the matter was not fully and independently investigated at the time.
Essex’s new chief executive, John Stephenson, who took over the day-to-day running of the club only in October, said he had first found out about the allegation last week.
“This is a proud club with a zero-tolerance policy towards racism and any form of discrimination,” he said. “I will not hesitate to uphold those principles and drive out any form of discrimination that is uncovered.”
“I was made aware of this single allegation on Thursday having joined the club four weeks ago. The board met last night, during which John Faragher’s resignation was unanimously accepted by the board.
“We are committed to working with the England and Wales Cricket Board to eradicate discrimination from the game. This is an important first step, but the club must now act further. Our internal reporting mechanisms will be reviewed to ensure that matters such as this are dealt with appropriately and immediately.”
Faragher did not respond to a request for comment. His departure comes as cricket starts to come to terms with the wider fallout from the allegations of racism – and a failure to investigate them properly – made during the longrunning case of Azeem Rafiq at Yorkshire.
On Thursday Mark Arthur, the Yorkshire chief executive, became the latest person to leave Headingley in the wake of the scandal and next Tuesday Rafiq will give evidence to the digital, culture, media and sport select committee of MPs investigating complaints against the county.
Meanwhile Yorkshire have announced that their independent whistleblowing hotline will be operational from Monday. In a statement the club said anyone wishing to lodge a formal complaint about any form of discrimination or harassment that they have suffered as a result of any act or omission of the club will be able to do so using a dedicated email address.
Mohinderpal Sethi QC, who recently conducted an independent investigation for British Gymnastics into complaints brought by Olympians, has been appointed to lead an independent investigation process which will consider any allegations that are lodged through the hotline.
