Essex have been fined £100,000 – half of it suspended for two years – by the Cricket Discipline Commission after admitting to the “systemic use” of racist language at the club from 2001 to 2010 which they “failed to address”.
The charge was brought by the Cricket Regulator following the publication of a report by Katharine Newton KC last December investigating allegations of racist abuse suffered by former players at the club.
Newton, whose independent investigation was commissioned by Essex three years ago, concluded, among several findings, that “curry muncher” was used to describe players of South Asian heritage and a cricketer was nicknamed “bomber” after the September 11 attacks. A Black cricketer was taunted by another player “offering him bananas in [a] manner which was unequivocally racist”, Newton’s report added. A player on trial sharing accommodation with the cricketer threw a banana down the stairs and told him to “go fetch it, you fucking monkey”.
While not named in Newton’s summary report or the CDC’s decision, the cricketers to have suffered the aforementioned abuse are known to be Zoheb Sharif, Jahid Ahmed and Maurice Chambers, all of whom represented Essex in the 2000s. The trio went public with their experiences at the club in late 2021 after Azeem Rafiq described the racism he encountered when playing for Yorkshire.
Essex formally admitted to the charge in June, thus breaching the England and Wales Cricket Board directive which states: “No such person may conduct himself in a manner or do any act or omission 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.”
The club have escaped a points deduction for future competitions because their misconduct relates to the period from 2001 to 2010; the CDC gained the power to apply such a penalty in 2020, which requires misconduct to have taken place in that year or after.
Essex were handed a £50,000 fine – £15,000 suspended for two years – by the CDC in 2022 after accepting charges relating to the use of racist language by then-chair John Farragher in a 2017 board meeting and the club’s subsequent failure in investigating it.
Yorkshire were fined £400,000 and docked 48 points in the County Championship last year for their handling of the Rafiq affair and failing to address racism at the club.
In its decision relating to Essex, the CDC said the Yorkshire case “should not be regarded as some form of precedent straitjacket for this panel”, before adding: “The panel is clear in its view that there must be some form of financial consequence to the club. The breaches which the club has admitted are extremely serious for the reasons set out above and clearly merit an immediate financial penalty.”
“There is deep regret for what occurred in the past, but these events do not reflect the Essex Cricket of today,” said Essex’s current chair, Anu Mohindru. “We have made significant progress in achieving these aims in the communities we represent through our excellent outreach work, as well as building a workplace that values and respects every individual. Essex Cricket will continue to move forward as the best open, inclusive, and diverse organisation we can possibly be.” “Racism has no place in our sport,” said the ECB chief executive Richard Gould. “I’m appalled by what those who experienced racism at Essex have been through, and the way this behaviour could become normalised. It is vital that as a sport we listen and learn from their experiences, and ensure that no one suffers like that again.”
“I welcome the action Essex has taken in recent years to address these issues and become a more inclusive club, and the commitment it has shown to make further progress.”