The County Cricket Club Essex has been charged based on allegations of racist abuse between the years 2001 and 2010. The England Cricket Board has assigned a new independent disciplinary body to get a detailed report on the racist abuse.
In December 2023, a 38-page report compiled by Katherin Newton KC revealed that Essex Club had followed racial and religious comments between mid-1990s to 2013. It also prompted an incident in which the former club chairman, John Faragher was alleged to have used some racist phrases in the woodpile in a board meeting held in 2017 and the club accepted a fine of 50,000 euros from the ECB in May 2022 after admitting two charges relating to that meeting.
Essex charged for historic racism allegations
The Cricket Regulator brought the charges, accusing Essex of breaching England and Wales Cricket Board directive 3.3.
In a statement released by the club, Essex said: “The club has been charged with a breach of ECB Directive 3.3 following the investigation into allegations which covered a significant period of time.
“ECB Directive 3.3 concerns conduct, acts or omissions which may be prejudicial to the interests of cricket or which may bring the game of cricket or any cricketer or group of cricketers into disrepute.
“It is alleged by the Cricket Regulator that there was systemic use of racist and/or discriminatory language and/or conduct at Essex, during the period between 2001 and 2010, which Essex failed to address.
“An independent panel of the Cricket Discipline Commission will hear the case. No further comment will be made until the case is concluded.”
The report said that the complaints related to a period from the mid-1990s to 2013 and they reflected a dressing room culture that regarded ethnic, racial, and religious comments as “banter”.
“Those at the receiving end of this treatment were too scared to speak up for fear of damaging their prospects of selection and progression,” the report continued.
In July last year, Yorkshire were fined £400,000 (£300,000 of which was suspended for two years) and docked 48 Championship points over their handling of allegations of discrimination by their former player Azeem Rafiq, and a failure to address the systemic use of racist and discriminatory language over a prolonged period between 2004 and 2021.
