Is Deryck Murray Available?
Sat, Apr 2, '05
If Dinanath Ramnarine has any modicum of good sense left, he should resign his post as President of the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) now.
If he doesn't do the honorable thing, his constituents should demand it. His actions during the personal endorsement contracts crisis has served to severely weaken and sully the image of WIPA, the only organization capable of providing checks and balances to the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).
Ramnarine, in a situation where the delicate touch of a Lawrence Rowe was required, brought the ham-fistedness of your regular garden variety number eleven hacker to the bargaining table and was handed his head by Teddy Griffith and company.
The last statement issued by Ramnarine accuses unnamed West Indians of unsubstantiated threats against the lives of unnamed players, even though there were no reports of any players reporting any such threats, and the WICB of being "tyrannical and despotic." He closes by saying that the players and presumably WIPA are calling "on the West Indian people to help them reclaim their cricket from the clutches of the despotic WICB and its commercial bosses."
This salvo came following the announcement that Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan had terminated their personal contracts with Cable & Wireless. According to the players' attorney, both players had been trying to withdraw for more than a fortnight but they had been stalled by C&W and WIPA officials. This reprehensible conduct comes from the leader of an Association whose most visible members are being paid by the so-called "commercial bosses" of the WICB.
Based on the actions of Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan, who opted to disavow their IPE deals with Cable and Wireless, despite the pleadings and entreaties of Ramnarine, and the fact that many players refused to engage in any strike action against the WICB, it should have been apparent to Ramnarine that he has clearly lost the leadership mandate within the union.
Deryck Murray one of the founders and the very first President of WIPA, in an interview with the Trinidad Express said it best:
"I would question whether their representation of the seven was in fact totally considered in terms of the interests of West Indies cricket and all the players that play because the Players Association should represent all the players and therefore, are they really truly weighing the best interest of the players? And I think the Players Association should. And I think the Players Association should have a responsibility to the game, the region, etcetera...They have to serve the interests of the fans, all the stakeholders, and the sponsors."
The question must be asked, whose interests were Ramnarine trying to protect when he used his goonish tactics in trying to force Gayle and Sarwan not to disavow the Cable and Wireless contracts? Why the petulant, childish outbursts against the cricket board that he must sit down across the bargaining table with to hammer out the central contracts deal which has still not been agreed to.
Without getting into the whys and wherefores of contract law and the minutiae of Personal Endorsements, make no mistake, for the West Indies, sponsorship is the life blood of our cricket. Yet, this must be balanced with the fact that the players must be allowed to earn as much as possible in their prime earning years which in the volatile uncertainty of the West Indies team is maybe ten years.
However, when one considers that when the West Indies home venues are limited in capacity, and under the reciprocal financial guidelines of the ICC, overseas earnings are limited, it is imperative that team sponsors are given an attractive environment in which to work. Recent figures were not available for overseas sponsorships, but in 2001 Sandals sponsored the West Indies team to England to the tune of US$50,000 and in 2000 on the tour to Australia, the sponsorship package provided by KFC was worth US $100,000.
With this uneven financing of away tours, and the largely half-filled stadiums locally, unless England and Australia are visiting with their planeloads of supporters, it is only natural that the West Indies Cricket board should seek to ensure that the sponsors are happy and that the money flows in to assist in the development of cricket.
The creating and financing of a professional cricketing environment should be one of the primary goals of WIPA, and it should be fostered in such a way that First Class players who can't make the test team would be able to earn a living from the game. Ramnarine's hysterical pronouncements does not help foster such a relationship, rather it harms it.
If we are to ascend the heights of the 1980's it will require all parties, WICB, Player's Association and the players pulling together. Ramnarine, after his amateurish handling of the impasse and his increasingly unhinged utterances should step aside and let a more mature individual take over.
Is Deryck Murray available?