The Need for Statesmanship

Teddy Griffith, president of West Indies Cricket Board, made what could be seen as a pre-emptive strike in the raging war between the WICB on the one hand and WIPA on the other.

This came just before the meeting on Monday to address the action that must be taken to resolve the stand-off between WICB and WIPA. His address to the region on Friday night was informative and must give us all, WIPA and the fans and supporters of West Indies cricket, reason to think again about any previously held stances.

Fact is that WICB?s previous autocratic attitude has contributed to opinions, some incorrect, held as gospel by the populace.

West Indies Cricket Board from Griffith?s lucid discourse on Friday, had gone into a new sponsorship contract with a competitor of the previous sponsor.

Where the WICB may be faulted is that it did not make sure that there were no hangovers from the previous sponsorship that could cause problems. Once it was known that some players had individual contracts with C&W, every effort should have been made to buy out the contracts immediately, so that the situation that has been developing since the VB tour to Australia could be avoided. But in the high flying world in which C&W and Digicel operate, no effort would be spared to discommode the opposition and so it is proving now that the Digicel contract is operational.

Griffith is frank in outlining the unsatisfactory finances of the WICB. What we must all ask is why had the board descended into such a state of penury. And he has not gone into that.

The major shortcoming is the manner in which the West Indies Cricket Board is elected and how it transfers its power to the following board, agreed on by the members of the outgoing board. That must change and a new means of selecting a WICB and its accountability for its actions must be inserted.

Griffith revealed the earnings of West Indies cricketers and all West Indies fans would be surprised that there is such hard drawn lines by the WIPA in this period of financial difficulty for the WICB that the players would rather destroy the entire organisation of West Indies cricket than meet the board halfway to a solution.

As the president said, the West Indies cricketers are among the top one percent of wage earners in the Caribbean and when the finances of the WICB are in the state they are, demanding the increases that WIPA is, must be unreasonable.

Currently, a West Indies player who gets onto the team for the first time, may earn as much as US$129,260 (TT$775.560) for the year and yet, rather than negotiating and seeking to resolve the differences between the WICB and WIPA, either side seems to be determined to get its way or else.

The result is that we have reached a position where the West Indies cricket seems about to select a second team against South Africa and Pakistan for the imminent tours that are upon us. The possibility even exists that, without good sense and temperance, the tours may be cancelled at unbearable cost to the West Indies and the 2007 World Cup will also be in even greater jeopardy than it is.

Placing blame is comparatively easy. The need is to find solutions.

Here are some young talents who are paid well by any Caribbean standards to represent the West Indies at cricket. What the Australians or anybody else earn is not their business as there are economies of scale and the reputations and current drawing power of the teams to be considered.

Their association is advised by a militant trade unionist in negotiations and one wonders if that is not the source of the intransigence and unwillingness to meet the other side half way in seeking a solution.

The situation has been aired. The various elements exposed and with some good sense, a working agreement can be reached while the outstanding disagreements worked out by competent impartial adjudicators.

The way forward calls for a more competent WICB made up of men with cricket backgrounds to deal with cricket matters and to advise the high powered business and legal brains that should run the big business that is international sport today.

Since the Packer revolution, money and contracts have become even more important than they were in cricket. The WICB even the regional boards must be more aware of that and make use of the legal and business brains that are available. Failure to do so will lead the eyeball to eyeball confrontation and the penury that now paralyses the region?s game.

The frank disclosures by Teddy Griffith that has cleared the air on many of the misconceptions that have had WICB and West Indies cricket fans in opposing camps, should impress the WICB that transparency and accountability are qualities that could only improve its ability to run the regions sport in the most efficient manner.

The need is now for the men on the front line, the WICB and WIPA to show some statesmanship, to acknowledge that the game is the most important element in the current impasse and that every act on their parts must be to see the matter resolved in the most equitable manner. There can be no losers and only cricket?s gain.

* This article appears by special arrangement with the Trinidad Guardian.