Tony Becca
WEST INDIES cricket is experiencing some rough times and its fans, at home and abroad, are
hoping and praying that there will be a change in fortunes not too long from now certainly before the World Cup in 2007.
The way things are looking now, however, that seems wishful thinking for the simple reason that what happens off the field usually affects what happens on the field, and some terrible things are also happening off the field.
Cricket is supposed to be a team game, and as far as three of its main stockholders the players, the Players Association and the Board are concerned, it should be one for all and all for one.
Based on what is happening, however, West Indies cricket is anything but a team not with the players, the Players Association and the Board in what appears an unending fight over money, and not with the sponsors, another stakeholder, now getting into the action.
Just before the triangular limited-overs tournament in Australia, the players, the Players Association and the Board were in a bitter
dispute over players' rights re new sponsors Digicel, it was so bad that an arbitrator had to be called in, and after the tournament in which the West Indies won one match out of six, the sponsors, according to a newspaper report coming out of Trinidad and Tobago, have come out swinging, left, right and centre.
PLAYERS ACCUSED
According to the 'leaked'
report, the sponsors' representative, who accompanied the team to Australia, has accused the players of a number of things, from women and late nights to total
disrespect for the sponsors, he has described the players as the poorest ambassadors he has ever seen
and the Players Association as
'terrorists', and he has said that he does not know how far Digicel will have to travel to begin to gain
benefit from its US$20 million investment in West Indies cricket.
As far as women and late nights, disrespect for the sponsors, and being poor ambassadors are
concerned, that is nothing new.
What is really interesting,
however, is the reaction of
the sponsors, through their
representative.
It is a reaction that suggests the sponsors' rep is peeved so peeved that he may be thinking of advising the sponsors to walk away or at least to return to the negotiating table.
If what appears in the 'leaked' report really happened and based on the players behaviour in the past and that of the Players Association, there is no reason to doubt it, if Digicel is really thinking of walking away or returning to the table, it would be difficult to blame them not after a sponsorship of US$20 million over five years plus one million for youth cricket, not if the players and the Players Association are treating them with disrespect, and not if the West Indies Board fails to deal with it.
The Board, however, appears not only to be in a corner but also well cornered by the players and the Players Association, and also by Cable & Wireless its sponsors for 18 years up to last year.
According to Digicel, its investment is US$20 million over five years, and that is good money certainly better than C&W who, moving from US$3.2 million, had offered some US$3.5 a year.
According to the players, however, even if the Board believes that US$4 million a year is better than US$3.5 million although the US$4 million is for home and away tours and the US$3.5 million was for home tours alone, it was not better for them not when they got 40 per cent of the sponsors money for home series, not when they got between US$700,000 and US$900,000 each time out of the sponsorship for away tours, and not when they were not restricted during away series as far as
branding was concerned.
According to the players, they were better off then than they are now, and that is why they are
making demands which they hope will compensate them if they give up their right to personal sponsorships, that is why some of them are still contracted to C&W, and that is part of the reason for the problem in Australia.
Listening to the arguments from Digicel, C&W, the players, and the Players Association, they all have a point.
Listening to Digicel, they have a right to expect certain things in return for their money and there can be no argument about that - especially if that was part of
their agreement with the Board;
listening to C&W, there is nothing illegal with contracting the players and they may be right; and
listening to the players and their association, they have a right to profit from their skill from their image.
In the middle, however, is the West Indies Board. It appears the Board did not deal fairly with C&W their friend for 18 years; it appears the Board did not have any dialogue with the players before the deal with Digicel; and it is obvious that the Board is in a bind.
BOARD CAN ONLY HOPE
Digicel obviously cannot give away their money, C&W will not give up their right, the players and their association also will not give up their right, and with the
arbitrator ruling in favour of the players, it appears that the Board can do nothing but hope and pray.
In all of this the players and the Board had better be careful. Dinanath Ramnarine, the militant president of the Players Association, has threatened legal action re the leaked report, and if that happens there would be no money for any player probably not even a Board.
In fact, it could well be the end of West Indies cricket - for the simple reason that it would be a brave sponsor who would get involved with West Indies cricket after that.
