The chairman of Essex County Cricket Club resigned over an offensive comment he allegedly made at a board meeting as cricket’s racism scandal spreads beyond Yorkshire.
John Faragher, who quit with immediate effect, is understood to dispute using racist language in 2017, but fellow board members have unanimously agreed with his decision that he should leave. Essex said in response that the club “does not tolerate discrimination of any kind and will immediately consider further steps the club must take”.
While Faragher “strongly denies the incident”, the club will review why it was not fully and independently investigated at the time. John Stephenson, the newly-appointed chief executive, said: “There is no place for discrimination of any kind at Essex County Cricket Club. This is a proud club with a zero-tolerance policy towards racism and any form of discrimination and, as Essex Cricket’s new chief executive officer, I will not hesitate to uphold those principles and drive out any form of discrimination that is uncovered.”
Another day of senior executive departures in the sport comes after Mark Arthur, the beleaguered Yorkshire CEO, had resigned over his alleged inaction after Azeem Rafiq raised racism claims in 2018.
Roger Hutton, the Yorkshire chairman, stood down a week ago, and his successor, Lord Patel, has since launched a hotline in a bid to encourage whistleblowers to come forward. Faragher’s resignation also follows Government pressure on the England and Wales Cricket Board to gather wider independent evidence on the extent of racism across the sport.
The ECB has opened an investigation into the incident after a complaint was initially taken up with the governing body. This was not the case when Rafiq alleged institutional racism at Yorkshire, with the original complaint being taken up with the county and not the ECB.
An ECB spokesperson said: “There is absolutely no place for racism or any form of discrimination in our game.
“The England and Wales Cricket Board opened an investigation into Essex County Cricket Club after receiving an allegation involving John Faragher, who has subsequently resigned as the club chair. The ECB is taking this allegation extremely seriously.”
Stephenson said he had been made aware of a “single allegation” about Faragher on Thursday, having joined the club four weeks ago.
“The board met last night [Thursday] during which John Faragher’s resignation was unanimously accepted by the board,” Stephenson added.
“We are committed to working with the England & 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.
“I intend for those next actions to be communicated as soon as possible.”
