John Faragher steps down as chairman of Essex County Club post racism allegations

Chairman of Essex County Cricket Club John Faragher has stepped down from his position with an immediate effect after he was alleged of using racist language in a Board Meeting in 2017. His decision came up after a meeting with the Board on November 11 as the Club has a zero-tolerance policy towards any kind of discrimination.

Though Faragher has strongly denied the incident and allegations put on him, the club would be taking a deep look at why the matter wasn’t checked properly when the incident actually took place. The newly appointed Essex Cricket chief added that there is no scope of tolerating any sort of racism.

“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,” Essex Cricket Chief Executive, John Stephenson said as quoted by The Fortress.

John Faragher’s resignation was unanimously accepted by the Board

Stephenson added that he got aware of the matter last night and that everyone at the club has accepted Faragher’s resignation unanimously. The ECB is committed to working on removing discrimination from their cricket and will take every step to deal with it. The same statements added that Club would not like to make any further comment on this matter as of now and the next course of action will be communicated to all soon.

“I was made aware of this single allegation 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. 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,” the statement added.