An independent Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) Panel has imposed a £50,000 fine on Essex County Cricket Club after the club pleaded guilty to two charges in relation to a racist comment made in 2017 at an Essex County Cricket Club Executive Board meeting.
The Club has also been cautioned as to further conduct and issued with a reprimand. £15,000 of the fine is suspended for two years.
Essex County Cricket Club had been charged with a breach of ECB Directive 3.3 which reads as follows:
“No Participant may conduct themself in a manner or do any act or omission at any time which may be prejudicial to the interests of cricket or which may bring the ECB, the game of cricket or any Cricketer or group of Cricketers into disrepute.”
The charge was in two parts – relating to the comment made at the meeting, and the subsequent failure by Essex County Cricket Club to conduct an appropriate, or any, subsequent investigation.
The CDC Panel was chaired by Ricky Needham, alongside Amrisha Parathalingam and Mark Milliken-Smith QC.
The CDC Panel also noted Essex County Cricket Club’s ‘increased commitment to greater diversity at management level within the Club and re-energised approach to Equity, Diversity & Inclusion obligations’, as well as the ongoing community work at grassroots level.
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 Equity, Diversity & Inclusion policies and processes.
The full written reasons are available – here.
