Essex County Cricket Club
chairman
John Faragher
has resigned from his role over a historical allegation that he used racist language at a board meeting in 2017, the team said on Friday.
In a statement, they added Faragher "strongly denies" the incident but resigned after Thursday's board meeting.
Essex said they would review why the incident was not fully and independently investigated at the time and would consider further steps to be taken.
"This is a proud club with a zero-tolerance policy towards
racism
and any form of discrimination and, as Essex Cricket's new Chief Executive Officer, I will not hesitate to uphold those principles and drive out any form of discrimination that is uncovered," chief executive
John Stephenson said.
"I was made aware of this single allegation on Thursday having joined the club four weeks ago. The board met last night during which Faragher's resignation was unanimously accepted by the board."
Stephenson added that the club were committed to working with the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to eradicate discrimination from the game.
"This is an important first step, but the club must now act further," he said, adding that they would review their internal reporting mechanisms to ensure matters are dealt with "appropriately and immediately".
Faragher's decision comes a day after fellow county side Yorkshire's chief executive
Mark Arthur
resigned in the latest fallout from the allegations of institutional racism made by their former player
Azeem Rafiq.
The club has been suspended from hosting internationals by the ECB after criticism of their failure to act on a report that found Rafiq was a victim of "racial harassment and bullying".
Roger Hutton had resigned as Yorkshire chairman, accusing the club's executives of failing to learn from racism allegations.
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