'We Get The Government We Deserve'

(Trinidad Guardian)

The Guardian tried all week to get Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) President Alloy Lequay to sit down for this interview. He would not even take our calls. Accordingly, we asked the next best person we could think of to explain the current idiotic state of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).

Tony Harford, the man behind All Sports Promotions Ltd, the marketing representative for the Windward Islands Cricket Board and a former TTCBC member spoke refreshingly honestly. His answers reveal why Alloy Lequay might choose to remain in hiding...

[laughing] BC, I've read a couple of your interviews and I expected an opening like this. But I can't confirm anything to do with the WIBC.

Q: But they are this weekend appointing a betting shop magnate as president?

Yes. That at least is confirmed.

Q: Now this is an appointment, isn't it? It's not an election in any true sense of the word, is it?

Well it's turned out to be an appointment from everything I've read. This is what is so sad: that this whole thing has been pre-ordained so that there seems to be an extremely undemocratic but yet legal appointment. There was a nomination date and there were two nominees for the post and one has since withdrawn so the other is to be appointed.. What we're hearing about is the suitability of the candidate. I have to make it clear I'm no longer involved in WICB matters. I used to be involved in marketing years ago. Now, I'm on the periphery. I'm not involved in Trinidad nor at WICB level.

Q: What came out of Alloy Lequay's own lips is, look, we have a president already?

I think that statement from Alloy is what opened the door to people realizing that this whole thing is a concoction. Clearly, Trinidad and Tobago's representatives along with those of Barbados and whoever else make up the executive of WICB sat down and decided, we know what's best for West Indies cricket and they simply got Lequay and they to sanction it. This is sad.

I am the chairman of one of the biggest clubs in Trinidad, Preysal, probably the largest club in the country after Queen's Park. We have 14 national players at all age levels. None of us were given an opportunity to give an opinion. We were simply told our representatives on the board made the decision on our behalf when, based on everything we've read and heard, clearly that's not the consensus. We simply did not want that.

Q: There was not even lip service paid to the limited democratic requirements of the WICB?

Well, the West Indies has been anything but democratic you know. We never seem to know who is doing what. Even when I was there. Recently the WICB appointed in each territory a coach to handle their development programme. I didn't see any announcement of that. I didn't see an advertisement. I heard there were three candidates for Trinidad. I know of their qualifications and the least qualified one, the one who does not have an advanced certificate, was the one who got the job. The person, of the three, who was a WICB lecturer, was not given the job. Nobody has made an announcement of how this came about. At every level West Indies has never run as a transparent and democratic organisation.

Q: How can we expect WI cricket to be open when territorial cricket is not? Is T&T cricket democratic?

In fairness to Lequay and their group, they do conduct their affairs in keeping with their constitution so I won't accuse them of doing anything illegal; but they are ones who define the constitution and so it has been shaped in their favour. None of us is happy with that. It was done prior to our time. What we have to do is move for major changes to be made. Unfortunately, what I believe is wrong in the constitution is what is preventing us from making those changes; and that is that the clubs have very little say in [our] cricket.

I proved that four years ago when I challenged Lequay for the presidency. In the earlier stages, 69.23 of the clubs in the country voted for me and I did not have enough votes to win the election because the incumbents don't face the poll. They simply come back and vote, so Lequay, or whoever the president is, walks into an election with as many as 11 votes; and you need 22 or 23 to win. Unless there is open revolt in his ranks, a challenger has no chance. Two weeks ago, very quietly, an even more frightening development, the board [gave] the president two more nominated members. I am shocked because nobody has reported on that. The clubs don't even know that. I have now started a small campaign to start educating the clubs. We are going to be in real trouble if we allow this regime to continue.

They will now, after this election, not be able to be moved. Lequay is now telling people he is going to retire as president but stay on as the CEO, which means he is clear in his mind his man is going to win and keep him as CEO. I think clubs in the country are to be blamed for this.

Q: Are cricket clubs apathetic?

They are. I think there are more teams in the country than clubs. The cricket board will pat itself on its back and say, "Look, we have 129 registered clubs". Well, there are 129 groups who pay their money. The fact is, there may be four or five clubs who promote community, a healthy lifestyle and shape young lives.

Q: Is it a case of cricket getting the government it deserves?

It is exactly that.

Q: So we have an effective dictatorship that can act peremptorily?

That's what's happening at the West Indies and TT levels. There are other territories in the Caribbean [worse]. I know of one island, Grenada, that hasn't had elections in 12 years. Their president actually sits on the West Indies board as a director.

Q: I'll ask you to do something the WICB did not do, and that is assess the relative merits of Willie Rodriguez and Chetram Singh?

If you're looking at the larger picture of international cricket, Willie Rodriguez would probably be a better representative. I don't know Chetram Singh as well as I do Willie - I'm a member of Queen's Park, a well run club, a model club for Trinidad and the wider Caribbean; not without its problems but a well run organisation. He's managed West Indies teams, he has international contacts, is well respected as a former Test player, clearly the odds would be in Willie's favour. I don't know if you recall but a few short months ago, there was an issue that had to do with I think the appointment of hosts for a Test series.

I stand to be corrected on this but I recall reading where Mr Chetram Singh was quoted as saying that if Guyana doesn't get a certain quota, they would consider pulling out of WI cricket. This is the same man we're putting as president. Willie Rodriguez would never do that. That gives you an idea of the relative merits of the two candidates.

Q: The merits of the appointee are worrying. Chetram Singh, because he is in the gambling industry, cannot sit on the ICC executive. He can't even go to the West Indies dressing room?

I think all of this was discussed. In the Caribbean, there are two things we live on: rumour and humour. I move around the Caribbean routinely in my work. In cricket circles, rumour has had it that, from the day his nomination, it has been said by some people I know who sit on the board that they were aware of this when they were selecting Chetram but plans had already been put in place, that they would pass some by-law or regulation to allow Wes Hall or Steven Alleyne to represent us at the ICC. They were aware of it. I was shocked to hear Ellis Lewis saying on television that this thing was going to be debated over the weekend. That has already been debated! It's worse than that! Chetram Singh cannot go into the WI dressing room to talk to his own people!

Q: Which makes him the only international cricket board president with a vested interest in his team losing?

Exactly! [laughing] But, as you said, we get the government we deserve. Before Willie Rodriguez to pull out, my plan was to go to every single cricket club in the country asking them to sign a document mandating Willie to represent [us].

Q: My European history textbook told me France was in a truly revolutionary position because it was impossible to effect change from the top, that change could only come through upheaval. Is WI cricket in the same boat?

We are in revolutionary mode; but are we that kind of people. I announced a challenge to Lequay and there were people who pledged their full and loyal support and, whenever an issue was raised that required them to stand up and be counted, when I looked back, there was no one behind me. We are going to ride out this crisis. We are going to moan. You'll interview people like me, who have a voice, who are not afraid to express themselves; but we are in the absolute minority. We will all sit there and let this happen and another election will come and they'll do the same thing all over again.

We have made no calls to the TTCB to censure [Richard] de Souza and Ellis Lewis for making a decision on the clubs' behalf without consultation. We are going to sit down and vote for Lequay's preferred choice for the election because nobody is strong enough. We just happen to be people like that. We are the people who had fetes during the coup attempt. My only wish is that clubs would stand up and demand that we change all this.

Q: There are legal avenues open to challenge these decisions?

I can't get five people who would go down to a lawyer's office with me. Manohar Ramsarran will go. I'll go. Maybe one other person. From the entire cricket fraternity. I called a club president. He makes a little money from the board. He ain't about to rock the boat. Others tell you, boy, I have players on the national team, I 'fraid they drop them. I have 14 players on the national teams. I tell them, this is not about you; this is about me doing what I'm supposed to do. They can't touch you, just keep doing what you do out there, which is perform.

Q: What will happen come 2007?

Well, it's a given we will host the World Cup and we'll all enjoy ourselves and pat ourselves on the back. I think there will be more of a fallout from the World Cup than a benefit. We now have eight approved international Test cricket venues in the Caribbean. Three or four islands have indicated they are going to construct stadia for the World Cup. That will give us 12 Test match venues. They are spending millions of dollars to host probably one World Cup game. The infrastructure required by the ICC, these venues are going to be a colossal spend and I'm not sure they will ever be able to be utilized.

The ICC is asking every ground for 15 hospitality boxes. What happens with the people, say at the Oval, who have invested in boxes? We have to throw them out, people who have supported and sponsored cricket? If you throw them out for the biggest event you ever have, will they come back? [Another] seed of conflict is, people are going to be very dissatisfied that they are not getting enough cricket. Trinidad may be reduced to a Test match every three or four years? And what happens when [the entire Caribbean] has four Test matches a year? Goats grazing in the outfield.

* This interview first appeared in the Trinidad Guardian on Sunday July 13, the same day the WICB presidential elections were scheduled.