Former Essex chair John Faragher denies using racist phrase or resigning from board

GEORGE DOBELL: Faragher confirmed to The Cricketer he intends to clear his name and resume his role on the board after an episode he describes as "fundamentally unfair"

John Faragher has "vehemently" denied using a racist phrase in an Essex board meeting or having resigned from the club's board.

Essex announced in November that Faragher had resigned as chair of the club "with immediate effect" after "a historic allegation of racist language used by him at a board meeting in 2017". The ECB last week charged the club with bringing the game into disrepute for not effectively investigating the claims in a timely manner. 

But while Faragher confirms he stepped down as chair – a position he was due to relinquish at the club's AGM in a few weeks anyway, having served a six-year term deemed the maximum by most arbiters of good governance – he insists he only stepped away from the board until an investigation into the incident was completed. He confirmed to The Cricketer he intends to clear his name and resume his role on the board after an episode he describes as "fundamentally unfair".

Faragher has also suggested that, in the urgency to be seen to be reacting to the allegations of racism that have swept through the English game over the last 12-months, he has been denied "due process" and been presumed guilty with "undue haste". For a man who has served on the Essex board (or committee) in an unpaid capacity for more than 30 years, that is proving hard to take.

^{Essex have been charged by the ECB for bringing the game into disrepute}

In a statement released on social media, Faragher said: "I believe the club, in conjunction with the ECB, acted with undue haste following on from other events in English cricket and that I was effectively forced to resign without due process or any investigation taking place. The whole process was entirely reactive and fundamentally unfair.

"The press release regarding my resignation issued by Essex CCC on November 12, 2021 is not the one agreed by me and the board the previous evening. I vehemently deny ever using the alleged racist remark and I did not agree to any statement that indicated my resignation was related to a racist comment.

"To clarify my position on the board – I did not at any time state that I was resigning from the board and no official documentation showed I did so, at the time or afterwards. Any assumption from any conversation the board may have had at the time or subsequently does not alter the fact that I'm still a member of the board."

While some involved with Essex suggest Faragher was challenged at the time of the meeting in 2017, he insists it was not until another board meeting, 11 months later, that the issue was raised. There also appear to be conflicting views from those in the meeting about whether anything inappropriate was said. 

The episode is currently subject to two investigations. As well as the ECB charge, Essex have commissioned a QC-led review into a variety of allegations of racism dating back, in some instances, many years. The results of both investigations will not be known for some time. Faragher is understood to have produced a written statement for the ECB investigation.