Essex Board members to be asked to sign five-year NDAs before being shown Newton Report into alleged racism at the club

• The news raises concerns about how much of the investigation will be public
• Former players complained they had suffered racist abuse while playing for club
• Essex’s executive team have had the final copy of Newton’s report for months

Essex Board members will be asked to sign non-disclosure agreements [NDAs] lasting up to five years before being shown the long-awaited Newton Report into alleged racism at the club, raising fresh concerns about how much of the independent investigation will ever be made public. 

The report was commissioned in November 2021 after complaints from several former players about suffering racist abuse from team-mates and coaching staff while at Essex, but almost two years later the findings of Katharine Newton KC have yet to be published.

Essex’s executive team have had the final copy of Newton’s report for several months, but publication has been repeatedly delayed due to concerns about triggering potential legal action from those accused of racist behaviour. 

Senior sources at Essex insist that the delays are due to matters outside of their control.

It is understood that players and coaches named in Newton’s inquiry have been contacted by Essex and asked to give feedback on passages in which they feature, but the report has yet to be shown to the club’s Board, never mind the general public. 

Essex Board members will be asked to sign NDAs before being shown the Newton Report into alleged racism at the club

Essex chief executive John Stephenson told Mail Sport that the club’s intention is to ‘publish the report in its fullest extent as possible’

Mail Sport has been told that Board members had been expected to receive the report tomorrow, but that date has now been put back.

Essex are understood to be preparing NDAs for Board members to sign, with the club indicating that the gagging order will last for five years, the upper limit for such agreements. Government guidance on NDAs states that ‘it is common to see them limited to three or five years.’

Essex are concerned about publishing Newton’s findings in full given the serious allegations made about former players and coaches, many of whom remain actively involved in cricket. 

Mail Sport revealed in July that former Pakistan leg spinner Danish Kaneria is named in the report amidst shocking accusations that he repeatedly taunted team-mate Maurice Chambers with a banana in the dressing room and on the team bus whilst they were playing together at Chelmsford.

The ECB have yet to see a final copy of the Newton Report, and their separate investigation into alleged historic racism at the club remains ongoing.

Essex chief executive John Stephenson told Mail Sport: ‘It is the club’s intention to publish the report in its fullest extent as possible, but the delivery of the report is not the final step in the process.

‘There will be highly sensitive matters to consider (and this will be done by an independent panel). Until this final part of the process is concluded – and it will be done with fairness and speed – it is important that confidentiality is maintained.’

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