Much-delayed report into racism allegations at Essex due in February

GEORGE DOBELL: Written by respected barrister Katherine Newton, the report follows a lengthy investigation into claims first made public by former players Jahid Ahmed and Maurice Chambers to The Cricketer in late 2021

The long-awaited report into allegations of racism at Essex is due to be published before the end of the month.

The report, written by respected barrister Katherine Newton, follows a lengthy investigation into claims first made public by former players Jahid Ahmed and Maurice Chambers to The Cricketer in late 2021.

Jahid alleges that he was regularly referred to as a "curry muncher" and "terrorist" while Chambers alleges a coach told racist jokes in front of him and a fellow player threw a banana at him and called him a "monkey".

When that incident was reported to the club, the offending player was let off having been asked to apologise. He continued, in the short term, to live in a club-run shared house with Chambers. 

Some of the claims relate to a current player at the club, while others relate to players or coaching staff who have moved on. Several remain active at various levels of the game.

^{Maurice Chambers played at Essex between 2005 and 2013 (Chris Brunskill/Getty Images)}

While the club had originally hoped the report would be ready in early 2022, its breadth of it appears to have broadened as more witnesses came forward to share their experiences.

It is also understood some of those accused of using racist language resisted attempts to question them. 

As things stand, the club’s chief executive, John Stephenson, remains keen to publish the report in full. It is likely, however, that aspects of it will be redacted to avoid legal action. Essex have been using the law firm Squire, Patton, Boggs, who oversaw the initial report into allegations of racism at Yorkshire, for legal advice. 

As there will be a Maxwellisation process allowing those named in the report to respond prior to publication, it is possible the publication could be delayed further by legal action from those who may be implicated.

In May 2022, Essex were fined £50,000 (£15,000 of it suspended for two years) by the ECB’s Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) after pleading guilty to two charges in relation to a racist comment that was alleged to have been made at a board meeting in 2017.

^{John Faragher is currently suing Essex for defamation (Steve Bardens/Getty Images)}

The second charge related to the club’s failure to investigate the original comment once it had been reported.

That incident led to the former chair of the club, John Faragher, who was alleged to have used the phrase "n***** in the woodpile" in the meeting, leaving the club.

His replacement, Azeem Akhtar, was also obliged to stand aside after a couple of days in the post pending an investigation after it emerged he had ‘liked’ several controversial social media posts. One of them compared the state of Israel to Nazi Germany.

Both Faragher and Azeem Akhtar are understood to have threatened legal action against the club, though it appears no such action has started at this stage.

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