AN MP has called for a cricket club chairman to apologise for allegedly using a phrase widely regarded as racist.

However, Brian Johnson from Darlington Cricket Club has refused to say sorry, denying that he made any racist remark.

Darlington MP Jenny Chapman and local campaigner Shaun Campbell have accused Mr Johnson of using the phrase “n***** in the woodpile” during a meeting to discuss the future of Darlington FC’s former Feethams home.

Landowner Darlington Cricket Club is close to agreeing a deal for the sale of the land after plans were approved for a housing development on the site, which is now overgrown.

However, Mr Campbell – the man behind a campaign to honour former Darlington goalkeeper Arthur Wharton, who became the world’s first black professional footballer – called the meeting in an effort to preserve the land for wider sporting use in the town.

His vision for Feethams included a sporting academy based around a 7,000 to 10,000- capacity stadium.

During the initial meeting, which was held in March but not minuted, Mr Campbell claimed Mr Johnson said: “It has been four years, even more maybe, since we have begun this process with [the proposed developers] Esh Group. Four years of hard graft.

“And here we are just about to sign the contract and along comes a n***** in the woodpile.”

The phrase originated in the US during the mid-19th Century and means a hidden snag or hindrance.

When used in recent years by public figures, they have often been forced to apologise.

Mrs Chapman immediately told Mr Johnson to apologise, but Mr Campbell wanted to give him time to think about the comment and brought the issue up at a meeting a week later.

He now wants to make the issue public because he feels he has given Mr Johnson enough time to apologise to him.

Mr Johnson said: “I’m disgusted that either he or Mrs Chapman have raised it.

“I didn’t make any racist remarks and I certainly haven’t made any racist remarks in relation to Campbell or Wharton.”

When asked whether he made the remark, he added: “I am not making further comment.”

Mrs Chapman verified that Mr Johnson used the phrase, adding: “It is an unacceptable comment to use in any context.

“I challenged him at the time.

He declined to apologise and he took the view it wasn’t racist and it wasn’t directed at anybody.”

Mr Campbell, whose father is Bajan and mother English, said: “I don’t feel that it is correct that somebody who refuses to acknowledge the hurt they caused through improper language should be an appropriate person to be making such a huge decision on Feethams.

“Nor should they be the head of such an organisation that seeks to nurture our children through the form of a cricket academy.”