Racism rocks England cricket: After Yorkshire, Essex sink in controversy; sponsor pulls out

Jahid
is
the
third
player
from
Essex
to
accuse
it
of
racism
that
has
rocked
English
cricket
in
the
wake
of
the
Yorkshire-Azeem
Rafiq
episode.

The
35-year-old
cricketer
follows
Zoheb
Sharif
and
Maurice
Chambers
who
have
also
accused
the
club
of
racial
discrimination.

Jahid,
who
represented
Essex
in
seven
first-class
matches
between
2005
and
2009,
described
the
club
as
“a
white
man’s
world
where
brown
people
were
outsiders”
after
allegedly
being
asked
by
a
teammate
if
he
was
“going
to
bomb”
the
club.

“It
was
a
white
man’s
world
where
brown
people
were
outsiders.
I
wanted
to
change
my
voice.
I
tried
to
deepen
it.
I
really
wanted
to
fit
in,”
Jahid
was
quoted
as
saying
by
The
Cricketer.

“I
felt
like
an
outsider
all
the
time
I
was
at
Chelmsford.
I
was
always
fearing
what
they
would
come
up
with
and
it
made
it
incredibly
hard
to
concentrate
on
my
cricket,”
he
added.

Meanwhile,
it
has
also
come
to
light
that
a
sponsor
has
pulled
out
of
its
association
with
the
club.

“Seetec
is
listed
as
one
of
eight
Platinum
Club
Partners
on
the
Essex
website
and
confirmed
to
inews.co.uk
that
it
was
suspending
its
ties
with
the
club
as
a
result
of
the
historic
and
deeply
damaging
allegations,”
inews.co.uk
said
in
a
report.

“We
have
suspended
our
ties
with
Essex
County
Cricket
Club
with
immediate
effect,”
a
company
spokesman
told
the
website.

“Through
the
services
we
deliver,
our
employee
owners
work
with
diverse
communities
to
help
people
realise
their
life
ambitions.

“This
is
part
of
our
wider
commitment
to
social
inclusion
as
it
is
important
to
us
that
the
communities
we
serve
have
equal
access
to
opportunity.
Any
form
of
racism
should
not
be
tolerated.”

Earlier,
John
Faragher
resigned
as
Essex
chairman
on
November
11
following
a
claim
he
used
racist
language
at
a
board
meeting
in
2017,
which
he
strongly
denied.