An independent report has upheld several allegations of racism at Essex CCC. Jahid Ahmed, one of the former Essex players to make the allegations, speaks to Tawhid Qureshi.
“I’ve been vindicated and what I said has been respected. It brings back old memories, it’s not easy to speak about it but I have to fight on. I want to make sure that no one has to go through the same thing again.”
Jahid Ahmed, the 37-year-old former fast bowler, has been waiting a long time for Essex’s, and by extension English cricket’s, day of reckoning. Following last week’s publication of an independent report, led by Katherine Newton KC, which upheld most of the historic allegations of racism during his time at the club, Ahmed feels there’s still lots of unanswered questions.
His sense of vindication is tempered by the fact that the complete findings of the report have been withheld. In addition, a key allegation claiming that Ahmed’s release from Essex was motivated by discrimination, was not upheld.
“I’m not happy about not yet seeing the full report, I’m not sure what the situation is with that,” he says. “I’ve got my lawyer on the case, trying to find out what the reasons are and if there’s any way we can get hold of it. I wasn’t happy to know that (one allegation wasn’t upheld) but I would like to find out how they reached that conclusion.”
The Newton report detailed disturbing historic allegations made against Essex by three unnamed players – Ahmed has acknowledged being one of the three. The report portrays a dressing room environment, from the mid 1990s to 2013, where racist and Islamophobic terms such as “curry muncher” and “bomber” were part of everyday conversation. An appalling incident is described where a banana was thrown at a black player by a trialist, who told him to ‘Go fetch it you f***ing monkey.’
At every given opportunity during his conversation with Wisden, Ahmed determinedly repeats the motivation behind his campaigning.
“I’m not here to look for revenge, it’s not about that. I work in schools, with kids, I deliver cricket coaching pretty much all over London. This is what I believe in, what I care about. If I have to sacrifice some things in my life, then so be it, just to make sure that the next generation finds it easy to access cricket and have fair opportunities. It’s not all about me being the victim, it’s about the next generation.”
Although the broad consensus suggests that Essex is a very different club today compared to the one described in the Newton report, Ahmed’s view is understandably tainted by a series of missteps by the club. The risk of procedural errors being compounded is still apparent.
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The undue length of time it’s taken to resolve the historic allegations has meant Ahmed is sceptical about the proposed timeline for sanctions against the perpetrators of the racist abuse.
“Essex are stating that in January there will be sanctions, but for me that sounds very unrealistic. How do you get to that stage so quickly? As this report took two years, I cannot understand how sanctions will be decided in three or four weeks’ time.”
A statement issued by the Essex chair, Anu Mohindru, implied that a conciliatory meeting took place with all three of the players referenced in the Newton report, shortly before the report’s publication. However, Ahmed reveals that the meeting was cursory and took place over Zoom, and tellingly he almost forgets to mention the apology that was offered to him.
“It was a Zoom meeting, just to tell us about the report findings. He (Anu Mohindru) said ‘In two days time we will release a summary of the report and these are the findings’. He basically read out what the summary report said.
“Yes he apologised. I have to receive the apology after the findings? It goes to show that they weren’t going to apologise before the findings came out.”
The parallels between Azeem Rafiq’s plight with Yorkshire and Ahmed’s battle for justice with Essex are clear to see. Ahmed explains how Rafiq’s high-profile stance in exposing historic allegations of racism at Yorkshire encouraged his own whistleblowing.
“At Essex I couldn’t say or do anything because we didn’t know that we were allowed to. And if you tried to make a complaint, you were told not to say anything. Until Azeem Rafiq spoke out and that (story) went absolutely massive, that’s when I realised ‘oh so I can speak about it and we can complain about it’. The only support given to me so far has been from Azeem, my lawyer Amjad Khan and George Dobell”.
While Ahmed acknowledges the considerable backlash faced by Rafiq, which he believes is symptomatic of “the disgusting world we live in”, he is also willing to accept the burden of being a whistle-blower, for the greater good.
“These things you will never forget, the bullying and racism. I’m a very tough guy, I can handle a lot of things, if I believe in something, I will fight for it. I knew I had to speak out because I’m not going to let Azeem fight on his own. What Azeem went through doesn’t phase me whatsoever.”
Ahmed describes today’s increased diversity in English cricket as “great to see” but his outlook is bleak. His experience of the game and his subsequent uphill battle for justice, has convinced him that the wrong people remain at the helm.
“Every county needs to understand that when you employ someone to take this (EDI) role on, it’s a very sensitive matter anyway and the people you bring in have to be very passionate about what they are trying to achieve. It’s not just about getting the job done or a box ticking exercise.
“Let’s be realistic, institutional racism will always exist. However if people were to come together, work together, people who care, then there is a chance. It’s got to come from the top and we need to make sure that we have the right people in place.”
