Former captain Graham Gooch has labelled the racism claims surrounding his ex-club Essex as a ‘stain’ on the club’s history. The unearthing of institutional racism within the county circuit has been unearthed over the past year following Azeem Rafiq’s initial claims against Yorkshire.
Within the scandal, one club also disgraced has been Gooch’s former club Essex, who were fined £50,000 after pleading guilty to two charges relating to a racist comment made at a 2017 board meeting. As well as this, three former players have also accused the club of discrimination against their race.
Gooch has spoken out following a damning few months for the County Championship setup, describing the allegations as a ‘stain’ on the club’s history.
He told BBC Essex : “I'm very saddened that a club with a great history has been stained with these dressing room culture allegations from the past and some other things in the boardroom. We've been a family club and a model for how we run things.
"We kept our head above water financially so to hear and see these things, and see the way they have been ripped apart behind the scenes is very distressing." Gooch - who also captained England - has enjoyed a long connection with Essex after first arriving as a player back in 1973.
The 68-year-old went on to become club captain in 1986, and is recognised as Essex’s all-time leading run scorer on 30,701. This career-long affiliation made hearing the allegations against his club even harder for the former England skipper. He said: “I'm very sad about what's happened.
"The strength of Essex cricket has been to promote local talent in east London, Essex and East Anglia. The proudest moment for me was in 2017 and 2019 when we had eight local players in our team who won those County Championships, which is unheard of in modern sport.
“As someone who came to Essex in 1973, when I started playing as an amateur, and since 1986 when I became captain, I've been involved in the back room as well as on the field and been in cricket committee meetings, and I'm very sad." The saga began when former chairman John Faragher resigned at the end of 2021 following an allegation of racist language being used in a board meeting.
Just days after the resignation, three former Essex players in Zoheb Sharif, Maurice Chambers and Jahid Ahmed all also made allegations against the club. Following the recent sanctions Essex reavealed that they will: “continue to work with the ECB to eradicate discrimination from the game," and that they have "a zero-tolerance policy towards racism and any form of discrimination.”
