Google News
John Faragher, the former Essex chairman, has accused ECB of manipulating a situation after the club was fined £50,000. He said he could run again for a place on a committee. “While fit and able why would I not want to help the club? But I have to think long and hard about that,” he said, via Telegraph Sport.
Faragher was accused of using the phrase “n----- in the woodpile” during a board meeting in 2017. Faragher denied using the phrase but admitted he should've launched an inquiry earlier. “It was a decision taken without proper investigation.
It was a straight ‘you are guilty, the ECB want you out tonight’. If you don’t go Essex will face severe penalties such as losing the support of ECB, women’s cricket’,” Faragher said “It is unacceptable to be told by a senior ECB executive that I had to go or the club would be at risk.
That is bullying and that does not sit well with me. It had been decided well before the meeting that John Faragher was leaving. It was a stitch-up”. The ECB denies accusations of bullying. “If you are acting on something as important as this you need to be clean about how you have done it.
They received a written report from me but if you are interviewing other people you should have the courtesy to speak to me. I am the one who has been put through the mill as a racist. If you are going to accuse someone of racism you need to let him have his say because I am not a racist.
I never made the statement”.
Essex fined £50,000 for a racist comment
In the full CDC ruling, which included Essex being cautioned as to their further conduct and reprimanded, it said: “The use of racist and discriminatory language such as this is plainly unacceptable: its utterance by a club chair is all the more deplorable.
“It is clear that the club has failed to uphold the standards expected of it, not only in respect of the conduct of its former chair but also as regards its failure to act appropriately or at all thereafter”.
Essex said: “The club has a zero-tolerance policy towards racism and any form of discrimination. We continue to work with the ECB to eradicate discrimination from the game, which includes implementing their 12-point action plan and the club’s further commitment to equality, diversity & inclusion policies and processes”.