Foolish players and a shameless Board

Saturday, November 21, 2009 2:15 PM

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Saturday, July 11, 2009

Given the shambolic state of West Indies cricket and the tendency of all concerned to do the wrong thing, it was perhaps inevitable that the West Indies players and their union would have blundered, even as they acted in perceived defence of their rights.

For by choosing to strike during the current Bangladesh tour of the Caribbean, the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) have won no friends. They have only added to the frustration of fans who, down the years, have all too often thrown their hands in the air and roared "Here we go again!" Or something to that effect.

Head of the WIPA, Mr Dinanath Ramnarine, the union executive, and ordinary members perhaps believe that this is a straight industrial relations issue. If they really believe that, they are very wrong and need to get their heads straight. This is not just a case of worker versus employer, ie WIPA versus WICB (West Indies Cricket Board).

Central to the entire issue are the tens of thousands all across the English-speaking Caribbean who invest heart and soul in their West Indies team. We speak of those who found boundless joy and light in their lives when the West Indies beat England by an innings and 23 runs at Sabina Park in early February and went on to win that Test series 1-0. The same people who were emotionally racked when the West Indies went down to humiliating defeats in the cold and damp of England in May.

There is a deep emotional connection between English-speaking Caribbean people and their West Indies cricket team. It is grounded in history and culture. Stakeholders in cricket who act without proper cognisance of the people who support the game are on a hopelessly wrong path.

The WIPA should have considered that, even while the West Indies team lose far more than they win, the regulars are among the best paid individuals in the Caribbean. So that in the current climate of economic recession, job losses and despair for ordinary people, our international cricketers have no right taking strike action in a bid to compel greater remuneration. Furthermore, their decision to act now while lowly and unfashionable Bangladesh are on tour after agreeing to the late-scheduled, highly unpopular but very lucrative aforementioned tour of England, smacks of opportunism.

The WIPA could have dramatised their situation, effectively making their case to the public at every opportunity, without taking West Indies cricket to this pass.

Perhaps WIPA feel their strike action will serve to yet again demonstrate the dysfunctional state of administration in West Indies cricket. Perhaps the players feel history will absolve them.

For the truth is that while we are in no position to say to what extent the WICB may have erred in this latest episode, if history can be used as a guide, the administrators have probably dug themselves another hole.

The last decade especially is replete with slackness and inefficiencies of every description at the level of those who run the game in the region. It's not by accident that on each of the several occasions disputes between the players and the Board have gone to independent arbitration, the players have prevailed.

After every embarrassing episode, the Board has pressed on shamelessly, waiting for public outrage to subside.

Following the scandalous abandonment of a Test match in Antigua in February because the field was unsuitable for play, and in March when regional players briefly withdrew their services because of the pitifully low monetary returns, among other issues, this newspaper joined others in urging the Board to step away. Such a move, we argued, would make it possible for the start of the process of revitalisation, restructuring and rebranding of West Indies cricket recommended by the PJ Patterson committee two years ago.

Given all the current circumstances, we have no choice but to renew that call even as we also feel compelled to castigate the players and their union for their seeming foolishness.

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