WICB Must Change Secretive Ways

West Indies cricket is now embroiled in a messy confrontation that has shaken the entire cricketing fraternity and split it into adamantly opposing camps.

The problem almost derailed the current tour to Australia; the staging of the World Cup in 2007, and the very ?team? that will represent West Indies in Test and ODI cricket, not merely now, but in the immediate future.

More fundamentally, it exposes the antagonistic distrust between the players and the Board, which is now at an all-time low. If left unchecked, this could lead to the demise of West Indies cricket.

Let us begin at the beginning. What is the purpose of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB)?

The WICB is for the development of cricket in the region and the promotion and presentation of West Indies cricket in the region and to the rest of the world.

The core of all this is CRICKET and cricketers. The WICB is the agency that facilitates and co-ordinates the many factors that must work together to ensure the best results.

There has always been a tight secrecy about the cricketers and the board on all matters relating to contracts, factors that concern personal details that may be of public interest, and especially about money.

The current impasse ? with players not having been paid fees and bonuses earned from as far back as March, while the WICB tries to remove their rights to personal endorsements that provide steady and needed income ? comes when WICB staff are seen to be well-paid in $US and on time.

This does the WICB no good. It must negotiate and do so without prejudice to the men who had the guts to stand for their rights.

When one considers that professional cricketers are public figures, it is reasonable to expect that the public, interested in their play and their habits, would want to know how their heroes live. What they eat, what they do in their spare time and how much they earn are matters that interest all the young hopefuls and most of the public.

That information could be used as motivators for young athletes.

Public stars in other fields delight in informing their fans about such details. Everybody knows how much money Dwight Yorke earns for playing his favourite game, or how much Maurice Greene gets for appearance money, let alone for winning.

We know how much Stephen Ames and Vijay Singh earned for their efforts on the many courses they played.

Recently, Ames came home and told his young fans how and what to eat if they wanted to be fit enough to do themselves justice. He revealed that, because he now ate properly, he had lost three inches off his waist.

Many young fellows, who never wanted to eat the greens that are so vital a source of nutrients, may now surprise mothers and fathers by doing so.

Does anybody know how much a West Indies cricketer earns? There is a blanket of secrecy about money that is really amazing and senseless.

We know how much Tendulkar got in his sponsorship deal with Pepsi and how much the Aussies are contracted for each year. We even know how much the Prime Minister earns.

But about West Indies players? earnings, there is deep secrecy. There is guess work and trying to discover from details that might have been inadvertently dropped, facts that should be delightfully revealed.

The WICB has never been forthcoming, unless it suits its purpose. The cricketers have been just as reclusive. In their contracts, players may not comment on anything concerning tours without permission from the board and certainly not within a year of the tour.

Most of the fans believe that West Indies cricketers earn huge sums playing for the West Indies.

The money earned per tour is attractive to the average working man, but it does not take into consideration the fact that a cricketer?s life at that level is comparatively short and hangs on freedom from injury, keeping form and staying ahead of the competition.

When compared to the earnings of other sportsmen ? even in cricket, from Australia, England, India and South Africa ? West Indies players are not well paid.

Maybe that is why the WICB is reluctant to release figures that could only help to clear the air on perceptions that do no good to either West Indies Cricket Board or to the cricketers.

The recent stand-off about contracts and endorsements seemed almost as though the WICB is so beholden to the new sponsors, for getting it out of a monetary jam, that nothing must be done that would in any way be unsatisfactory to the new sponsor.

The players? rights or concerns about their legitimate income were totally disregarded in the unbending stance that clause five wass not negotiable.

What sort of stance was that, when one is supposed to be negotiating?

Do as I say or else.

The days for that are long gone and the WICB must be prepared to discuss and negotiate with the players, with the clear understanding that the WICB is the medium through which the players and their game will be promoted and developed.

The players are the factors without whom there will be NO West Indies Cricket Board.