Reactions From the Pundits
Sun, Mar 6, '05
On Friday evening, West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Teddy Griffith provided a blow-by-blow update on the contract dispute. During the statement, Griffith also dropped the bombshell announcement that seven key players, including Brian Lara, will be axed if their private endorsement deals with Cable & Wireless clash with the board's Digicel sponsorship.
At the Carib Beer match between hosts Jamaica and Barbados, CaribbeanCricket.com sought reaction to Teddy Griffith's speech from Tony Becca, Simon Crosskill, Andrew Mason, Dr. Akshai Mansingh, Delmarr Samuels, and others...
(Partner, Red Stripe Mound at Sabina Park)
I have a lot of concerns. I hope that it will be resolved and we will have the full team. Without the players named, it's not a West Indies team and I think people are always going to come down on the side of the players rather than the side of the board. Nobody is going to be interested in the series if those players are not in the team. I don't think anybody would come out to watch the matches.
With South Africa and Pakistan, we were looking forward to a good series and that money was to go to the development of the new Mound for World Cup 2007 so we are back to the drawing board. It has caused a lot of concern but we are just hopeful that common sense will prevail. I think both sides are going to have to give and I think positions have become so entrenched.
You know sometimes you back yourselves into a corner and common-sense just does not prevail and no one wants to give an inch. But we had a similar situation about 20 years ago with the World Series Cricket and Kerry Packer and we came out the stronger for it, so who knows, maybe there is a silver lining. Maybe this will lead to a long needed restructuring of the organization that controls West Indian cricket which is so important to us. I don't there is a single individual, no prime minister, no anybody else in this region that could say he is making a statement one day and make that statement the next day and have I would say probably 90% of the region listening to him.
TONY BECCA (renowned Jamaican sports journalist)
I am not surprised. In fact, knowing Teddy Griffith, I believed it would have happened. Teddy is not somebody who talks a lot or moves quickly. He looks at things, assesses and then he acts.
Basically I totally agree with him. I know that sportsmen should be well paid. This thing about the players being in the 1% of the top earnings in the region, I am not concerned about that because what a man works he gets and professional sportsmen around the world are paid higher than surgeons and prime ministers and presidents so I am not interested in that.
My concerns are... (1) Are they worth it' and (2) Even if they are worth it, the board can only pay what they have to pay and; (3) The most important thing to me is that the players must understand that whatever the board earns must be divided up - some for them, some for administration and some for the development of the game because you need young players coming on so therefore you need coaches, youth tournaments, senior tournaments, the clubs.
I think that the players association, it has been too militant. It is as if it's an enemy of the board or the board is one of its enemies when they should be working together. I think that the players will understand what is happening, I hope. I agree with the board in standing up because they work for the board.
Originally, I didn't know this had happened and I'm happy to know it had happened which is that the board had said to the players before they signed the contract with Digicel that we're going to do this, this is what we are being asked to do, so we are asking you to show us the contract. What is important is that the board said I don't need to see what you're earning, what you signed for I need to see the contract so that it doesn't conflict and I don't see why the players should refuse to do that.
Next? I don't know because West Indies cricket is such, that the politicians always get involved in it. I hope that the board will not back off. I sincerely hope the board has said you seven guys will not be considered until so and so and I hope that the players will not be selected until that 'until' happens because you will not be getting anywhere. You'll just be doing the same thing that you've been doing.
DR. AKSHAI MANSINGH (Chairman of the WICB Medical Panel)
It's interesting to see the President of the West Indies Cricket Board coming live on TV to read a statement that a press release could have covered. I think it's more than just what was said. It's the fact that he commanded the attention of everybody who loves cricket in the Caribbean, perhaps more than the president of any other institution could. What it also did was put a definitive deadline as to when negotiations would finish and I think that's positive because for too long we've spent time during preparation camps trying to prepare not for the series but for negotiations.
It hopefully allows us to focus, whichever team shows up, on the cricket and on the first test against South Africa and look like we're ready to play cricket and not like we are ready to start preparing for a series.
I think the cards are on the table. I think a lot of negotiations have gone on. The Prime Minster of Grenada just said there is another meeting on Monday. This hardens the hand of everybody but also ensures that some sort of solution will be had on Monday. My own feeling is that everybody in the end has West Indies cricket at heart. Nobody can blame players for trying to get a better life; nobody can blame the board for trying to make ends meet and in the end I think we'll have an amicable solution. I expect a full West Indies team to be playing in the first test.
ANDREW MASON (Barbadian cricket commentator)
Well, it's good to hear the President speak because he hasn't said a lot ever since he has come to office and he had to make a decisive statement. We simply just couldn't continue with this foolishness and I think it's a very, very decisive statement that he's made. He has now put WIPA on the back foot because I think that WIPA doesn't now have the full support of the region and I think they are conscious of that.
I think people are beginning to say look, you could be right and you could be wrong the players have virtually had the WICB over the coals and I think they are going to be very careful about their next action. The fact that WICB has decided to go this route is not surprising because I understand that Digicel, they also want their pound of flesh. Now with Lara and the others having contracts, it is left to them to decide whether they want to play for the West Indies or not.
I am of the view that there is going to be some compromises. I think that this tour will go on. I think that Lara and the others will play for the West Indies. The compromise is something that we have to work out very carefully because the tour simply has to go on. We can't have the South Africans and the Pakistanis not coming out to the region.
The situation with WIPA now is going to be very interesting because WIPA has choices. One, they can decide to accept the WICB position or they can call their troops out because I suspect they have the full support of the members. This game between Jamaica and Barbados could not have been played today had WIPA decided [to stop it]. They're going to be very calculated.
I want to make the general point that we have a serious problem with management in the region. You see, for the first time, the WICB has across the table a partner that is its equal. Once upon a time, it was a matter of the WICB basically just calling the shots. The WIPA situation has now put them on the back foot. Intellectual property is big business. I don't think that WIPA understands it; I don't think the WICB understands as well. So we need to have the best minds, the best professionals in the region to come together to help the WICB and WIPA solve the problem and I believe that if we get that going, then we can ensure that West Indies cricket looks good worldwide because at the moment, basically the world is laughing at the West Indies.
HEADLEY 'DELMAR' SAMUELS (Well-known cricket photographer)
He [Griffith] made the speech at the wrong time. The West Indies Cricket Board is supposed to handle the cricket better than that. When they were getting sponsorship from Digicel, they must have known that the guys had contracts with Cable and Wireless. They should have handled it better than they are handling it now.
Over the years, the Board never respected the young players' union and that is the most important part of all this. They don't respect the players. The players are their raw material. Long gone are the days when people don't have no sense. These young boys have sense; they can play the cricket but the disrespect with the West Indies team and players start from 1995 and until they address that problem, then the West Indies team won't go forward.
SIMON CROSSKILL (Jamaican broadcast sports journalist)
Having spoken to Prime Minister Mitchell, I am a little surprised about the statement from Teddy Griffith not having waited until the meeting on Monday, although I suspect that the WICB now feels that time is of the essence and they don't really have time to play about with this issue anymore.
I think the WICB has to take responsibility for it. I can't see how when they were negotiating with Digicel and they knew full well that these players were signing these contracts with Cable & Wireless that they couldn't foresee a conflict. I can't imagine they couldn't see that they needed to take the decision they have taken now or they needed to find some other remedy at some point in time. I am sure that Digicel would have known about those contracts as well and I am surprised that Digicel did not insist on something being done at that time.
As it is, we are now at this situation. I feel that we will step back from the precipice yet again and it will be sorted out but I think it is going to leave a very bad taste again in the mouths of the players and the Board. What I also understand is that there is a fairly large disparity in the sum of money that is paid to the contracted players to Cable & Wireless. I have heard that the figure is something like US$1.8 million with one player getting US$1 million. So, when you look at this in totality, West Indies cricket is now at a crossroads as a result of seven players initially and maybe one player significantly and it just seems unnecessary.
I really think it comes back down to the negotiating skills of two amateur bodies, WIPA and the WICB, and I just get the feeling had this been in Australia or so it would have been resolved a long time ago. It might never even have occurred.
My crystal ball still has Dr Keith Mitchell in it and he is very optimistic but I just wonder if it isn't misplaced based on the statement from Teddy Griffith last night. He knew about the meeting that was set up for Monday he knew about other issues and yet he still went ahead. Now is he playing politics? Is he trying to force WIPA's hand at that meeting on Monday? I don't know but my gut feeling is that it will be resolved. We will have our cricket. We will have the tour of the South Africans and Pakistanis and mercifully we will have the conclusion of the Carib Beer series as well. I think it will be sorted out but not without some blood-letting.
Spectator in the crowd: "Pay dem off for dem contract and mek dem play"
