Cricket fans are major shareholders in the game

THE EDITOR: West Indies cricket means a lot to the people of the Caribbean. Every writer on West Indies Cricket has made this point. The successes and failures of our team affect us greatly. We are joyful or sad dependent on the team’s fortunes. Cricket fans have also been consistently saddened by the way the game is managed in the region. Administrators have come and gone but an unmistakable attitude of “we are the ones that matter” persists. West Indian cricket fans are one of the most important stakeholders in West Indies cricket. A large supportive crowd at any test match or one day international provides that extra motivation for the players. The financial returns derived from the support of fans are critical for the long term development of the game. The withdrawal of patronage by fans will cripple the advancement of regional cricket.

Why then does the WICB behave as if they are the only stakeholder that matters? The current impasse between the West Indies Players Association and the West Indies Cricket Board has brought this into clearer focus. The two parties involved in this dispute must realise that their responsibilities do not only lie in seeking the players’ best interest or that of the sponsors. Their responsibility to the people is even greater. What do I mean by making this statement? There was significant merit to the players’ association position of personal endorsement being separate to the team endorsement, as upheld by Justice Saunders’ ruling.

However, this issue only came to the fore prior to the commencement of the recently held training camp in Barbados. The people as a key stakeholder should have been informed up front of the issues affecting the players. It was only through this issue that cricket fans found out the players were not paid for several months. We may not have known about this had this situation not arisen. I would like Mr Ramnarine and WIPA to know that it should be part of their mandate to keep fans abreast of the issues affecting regional players. The WICB must also inform fans of their plans and account to us in a conspicuous manner. This practice is necessary not to appease us, but must be implemented as a standard policy. The people of the region must demand and put every ounce of pressure on the board to follow through on this.

Cricket supporters must be mobilised, organised and help in the planning of our cricket. Cricket means too much to us to leave it solely up to the WICB and WIPA. The West Indies Cricket Fans Association must become a reality. The fans as stakeholders need to be an organised force to ensure that our cricket survives, be resuscitated and thrive once again. The signs are not too encouraging, we are the eight ranked test team in the world and have lost the last twenty-seven or twenty-eight test matches abroad. The recent ICC one day victory was a partial relief to our on going trauma. The little hope it offered cannot hide the crisis we have found ourselves in. This has been compounded by the obvious lack of maturity displayed by the Board and WIPA in the current dispute.

These organisations have behaved as if we the people do not matter. The WICB adopted the position that clause five of the match tour contract was non-negotiable. WIPA was much better in stating that everything is negotiable. However, out of the blue or at least so it appeared, we heard of another issue concerning appearance fees. Was this matter always on the agenda in terms of the ongoing negotiations between the two bodies? Why then were cricket fans not informed? Are these bodies striving to confirm V S Naipaul’s assertion that we are “mimic men?”

Most Caribbean politicians have consistently attained this status. Lloyd Best has continuously alluded to the lack of original thought among the political and academic directorate in the region. However, cricket fans must provide innovative leadership that can lay the infrastructure for the proper management of the regional game. In the absence of maturity, egos and peripheral issues will dominate as the WICB and WIPA fast track our beloved game into oblivion. The stakes are too high to leave it up to the WICB and WIPA, the people must act now.

IMO BAKARI
Chaguanas