Essex turmoil as racism whistleblower quits
Trouble is brewing at Chelmsford, where the potential for essex to follow Yorkshire in becoming the second county engulfed by a huge racism scandal is gathering momentum.
Just as essex are on tenterhooks awaiting punishment from a cricket discipline commission (CDC) investigation into charges of bringing the game into disrepute comes the shock departure from the club of the man who blew the whistle on the whole sorry affair.
essex chief executive John Stephenson told a members’ forum on Monday that Wasim Haq, who accused former chair John Faragher of making a racist comment — which Faragher vehemently denies — and his fellow board member Paul Harvey had resigned, throwing the club into further turmoil. Astonishingly, Faragher and his supporters on the board remain, even though essex have accepted the charges.
Potentially even more damagingly, essex are bracing themselves for damning revelations from the independent report they commissioned into three former players’ allegations of racism at the club.
It was Haq who wanted Faragher properly investigated for allegedly using the n-word in a committee meeting in 2017 and he was supported in his quest for an emergency meeting by Harvey.
but because the incident was not properly looked into until the Azeem rafiq affair changed the whole attitude of the game towards racism, the pair appear to be paying the price for trying to do the right thing.
World of Cricket understands the long delayed report by Katharine Newton QC will say that the whole essex board of the time should accept collective responsibility for failing to properly investigate the allegations of racist language and, as such, Haq and Harvey must go too.
With board members split and essex at an impasse, Haq and Harvey stood down for the good of the club while other members in Faragher’s corner hang on.
The club remains divided and, in some quarters, in denial. Faragher, was removed as chair when the allegations came to light but refuses to go quietly and claims he should retain privileges that include access to the Chelmsford committee room. That led to the potentially embarrassing situation of the bullish Faragher threatening to turn up for essex’s first game of this season and trying to take his old privileged place, a terrible look for a club trying to move on.
Stephenson, who has had a baptism of fire back at his old club, told stewards outside the committee room not to let Faragher in while a senior member of the essex hierarchy told them to give him access. In the end Faragher turned up to watch essex play Kent but sat among the public, avoiding a confrontation.
essex are expected to be hit by a fine of £50,000 by the CDC this week but it is the second part of the Newton report that could bring Yorkshire-style repercussions.
World of Cricket understands a former essex coach and captain are implicated in the allegations by former players Maurice Chambers, Zoheb Sharif and Jahid Ahmed that they suffered racist abuse while at the club.
It all adds to considerable pressure on essex to move on properly — similarly to the way Yorkshire, and lord Patel, have reacted to the rafiq affair. Hurrying the whistleblower out the door does not seem the best of first steps.