WI cricket needs CARICOM
published: Friday | December 3, 2004

By Tony Becca, Contributor

LAST FRIDAY night there was a sigh of relief around the region following the announcement that the meeting between Dr. Keith Mitchell, Prime Minister of Grenada and chairman of CARICOM'S sub committee on cricket, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) was a success and that after all the fears, the West Indies may well be in Australia for next month's triangular one-day tournament.

According to Dr. Mitchell, the two parties reached an understanding on the way forward and it appears that the tour may not be jeopardised.

After seven hours during which Dr. Mitchell met with the WICB, with WIPA and then with both parties, both parties agreed to engage an independent adjudicator to make a decision on the interpretation of a clause in the disputed contract which the players were asked to sign and which 16 of the 25 refused to sign.

SETTLEMENT

They also agreed to make their best attempt to reach a negotiated settlement on the controversial Clause Five by December 15.

"I feel heartened that after this long and difficult process we have an understanding on the way forward," said Dr. Mitchell. "It now appears that the tour to Australia may not be jeopardised."

What is more important, however, is the long-term relationship between the board and the players, and it was nice to hear that Dr. Mitchell plans to discuss the problems with the sub committee on cricket and also that CARICOM would try to play a part in developing a closer relationship between the two parties.

Although there are those who still believe that cricket should be left to solve its own problems and that politics should not interfere, such is the importance of cricket in the region that if there is a problem in West Indies cricket, if the problem is such that it threatens to destroy West Indies cricket and the board and the players through their association cannot solve it, then nothing is wrong with CARICOM getting involved in an effort to solve it.

Based on what is happening in West Indies cricket, CARICOM is obliged to get involved. In fact, if it does not, if it stands by and allow an association that always seems ready for a fight and a board that so often appears unwilling to recognise the rights of the players, it could be accused of reneging on its responsibility.

One of the problems, in fact the big problem with West Indies cricket is that although the players are not professionals, they want to be treated like professionals, and although they are not professionals, even though it does not pay them like professionals, the board wants to treat them like professionals.

In England and Australia, for example, players are paid to play first-class cricket, there are squads of players from which the Test teams are selected, and all the members of those squads are paid.

In the West Indies, players are paid only when they are selected to represent the West Indies, that means when they are not representing there is no pay, and that being so, they can hardly be termed professionals.

That is the reason why they can go off and play wherever they wish even when the domestic first-class competition is on.

Sometimes, therefore, it is difficult to understand some of the demands of the players through their association, and although it has to protect its major sponsors, also those of the board.

CONTRACT

The present contract, for example, demands that the players do not enter into any agreement with anyone without the permission of the board which has the right to say yes or no, and remembering that except when they are representing the West Indies the board does not pay the players, that must be unreasonable.

Common sense suggests that unless you are paying a man you cannot stop him from earning.

The West Indies situation is complex, it is going to take some serious understanding on both sides for the board and the players to live together - to work together, neither the board nor the players association seems to appreciate that, and that is why those who love West Indies cricket and those who believe that cricket is an important part of the West Indian society should be happy that CARICOM has intervened, and that according to Dr. Mitchell it plans to try and play a part in developing a closer relationship between the
players and the board.