ICC seeks help from ‘three wise men’
The Intenational Cricket Council (ICC) appears to be concerned over the proposed creation of the Essel Group-financed rebel league. The executive board discussed the issue at length during its meeting last month and set up a three-member committee comprising ICC chairman N Srinivasan, the outgoing England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chairman Giles Clarke and Cricket Australia (CA) chief Wally Edwards to launch an inquiry. The committee will report to the board once it completes its work.
“Yes, we discussed it at our board meeting and the three-member committee is looking into the issue,” Srinivasan told The Indian Express.
But does ICC see the breakaway league as a threat to the official order? “It’s too early to comment. At the moment we’ve very little information about the whole thing. We’ve to see whether this is something serious or just speculation. We’ve started the process and will report to the executive board once we get the facts,” Srinivasan said.
On Friday, Fairfax Media reported that two Australian cricketers, Michael Clarke and David Warner, have become A $50 million targets of the rebel league. It compared the venture with Kerry Packer’s creation of World Series Cricket nearly 40 years ago.
CA, however, has rejected the report as “highly speculative” with Edwards saying in a statement: “We are aware of the reports around a rebel league and they remain highly speculative, particularly given the proposed scale and complexity. Australian cricket has never been in better health. Record crowds, television audiences, grassroots participation and commercial support continue to drive record venue which means player payments have never been higher and will only increase.”
The league hopes to capitalize on the perceived dissatisfaction with the way cricket is run, about the hegemony of the big three — India, Australia and England — and how its finances doesn’t quite trickle on to the smaller cricket nations worldwide. As former world players’ union chief Tim May put it: “There is a general dissatisfaction with the game’s governance, how it’s run and the inequity of the game’s finances and there are other bodies around that would believe they can globalise the game of cricket in a more equitable fashion than the current
administration.”
The big plan
The plan proposes to include not only the existing countries but also new territories like the United States and China.
Tony Irish, the chief executive of cricketers’ union, has already spoken about how the players will always be tempted by the money. “Whether this event happens or doesn’t happen I think the boards have got to be on their toes and realise there are other markets for players and they’ve got to try and make mainstream international cricket as attractive as possible,” Irish said.
Edwards, too, admitted that formation of a breakaway league can compromise the overall health of the game.
“As it stands, Australia’s cricketers are the highest paid athletes of any team sport in the country and the earnings of our top-ranked players would already be close to the numbers referenced in today’s media reports. But our pay structure is broader than that. It’s about supporting professional cricket at both international and domestic level. The success of international cricket directly subsidises the wages of the state cricketers. Any proposed rebel league would jeopardise that,” said Edwards.
The whole thing started with the Essel Group registering companies in Australia, New Zealand and Scotland with names that are similar to cricket boards. Website domains like worldcricketcouncil.co.in and globalt20.com, too, have been launched. Then, the owner of the Essel Group, Subhash Chandra, confirmed plans to launch a new global T20 tournament with an eye on making cricket a global sport. “Essel Group has been analysing the sports market and the reports reflect an extremely positive trend,” the conglomerate said in a statement released earlier this week.
Essel Group had tried it once earlier too, launching the rebel ICL in 2007. The tournament folded in 2009 amid allegations of match-fixing and non-payment.
According to a report in The Guardian, the Essel Group had discussion with the ousted former IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi over the proposed formation of the league, but the latter pulled out. Modi didn’t feel the plan was “executable”. It was reported the federation of international cricketers’ associations, which represent all players’ unions worldwide, held talks with Essel but halted the negatiotaions due to potential backlash from the ICC.
Interestingly, BCCI didn’t deliberate on the subject at its working panel meeting on April 26, the ICC tip off notwithstanding.
