Tue, Apr 24, '07
by RYAN PATRICK
An arbitration panel chaired by Barbados chief justice Sir David Simmons has been asked to determine whether the upcoming West Indies tour of England is considered part of the ICC's FTP (Future Tours Program).
The issue was sent to arbitration after the WICB flip-flopped on its earlier position that the tour was outside the FTP and required the approval of the West Indies Players' Association. (See background on the dispute here)
WIPA had made its position clear on the issue since January when it agreed to play an ODI series in India under protest. At the time, WIPA wrote in a letter to the WICB:
i) WIPA proposes to meet with the WICB on Thursday 18th and 19th January on the ensuing series which are outside the FTP (WC 2007, England tour and any other proposals from the WICB)
The WICB had earlier agreed that the tour was outside the FTP but has since changed that position.
Here is the section of minutes of a WIPA/WICB meeting held on November 30, 2006:
The WICB is aware that the England tour is outside the FTP and will be meeting with WIPA as soon as the tour details are finalized.
I then asked WICB corporate services manager Tony Deyal to clarify the board's position regarding that part of the minutes. His response:
That was subsequently clarified in that we gave notice that we were from that point (after November actually) sticking to the exact wording/meaning of the MOU and that regardless of what we had previously allowed, we were now enforcing or insisting on our rights even if those might have been mistakenly construed to mean that we had somehow not enforced them.
Deyal said the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) between the WICB and WIPA does not include the letters "FTP" and the board is now taking a firm stand that WIPA's approval is not required for this tour.
I asked someone close to the negotiations for his take on the matter. He declined to discuss it on the record but sent the following by e-mail:
If you look on the ICC web site at the FTP schedule (.pdf) you will see that they refer to this tour as an additional event. This means that it is not a requirement under the FTP but a bilateral arrangement reached between the ECB and WICB.
The MOU agreement between the WICB and WIPA requires that WIPA are consulted with in good faith prior to the WICB finalising arrangements relevant to the Overseas Programme (future calendar of international cricket as planned by the WICB over the term of its MOU with WIPA and may include matches beyond mandatory FTP and ICC events)
Now, it's up to the Simmons arbitration panel to determine which interpretation is correct.
