ICC Must Protect the Innocent Majority

Wed, Mar 27, '02

(Reprinted from Jamaica Gleaner)

Once upon a time cricket was clean - so clean that no one would even think of dropping a catch wilfully.

Times have changed, however, corruption is everywhere, there is enough evidence to suggest that as isolated as it may be, results of cricket matches have been manipulated, and in its effort to do something about it, the International Cricket Council's anti-corruption unit has come up with a set of recommendations that it believes will help in the over-all strategy against corruption and match-fixing in the game.

According to the document, the recommendations "are not designed to be draconian or to isolate players". Looking at them, however, whether they are designed to be or not, that is exactly what they are.

There is no question that corruption and match-fixing must be fought on all fronts. That, however, does not mean that the players should be treated like convicts.

The recommendations deal with the dressing rooms, according to them entry to dressing rooms should be restricted to certain people, those people should wear identification badges with photographs at all times, duplicate photographs with names should be also posted at entry points for double-checking, there should be television monitors at all entry points, and there should be at least two security staff on duty at all times.

Nothing is wrong with that.

Something, however, must be wrong with recommendations that say that players should not be allowed to carry cell phones into or to use cell phones and other communication devices in the dressing rooms. That the players should not be allowed to have cell phones with them from the moment they leave the hotel until the close of a day's play. That the manager should be allowed to have a cell phone on the understanding that it can be used by the players only in cases of emergency or urgency. That there should be no static telephones capable of making or receiving outside calls in the dressing rooms, and that one of those persons with permission to enter should be a representative of the anti-corruption unit.

Something must be wrong with those recommendations for at least these reasons. To deny the players the use of a telephone in this day and age is treating them like criminals, to ask the players to convince the manager that they need to make a call is treating them like children, to ask the manager to act as a judge when a player wants to make a call or when a call comes in for a player is asking too much of the manager, and to have a member of the anti-corruption unit sitting around the dressing room like a watchman is an insult to the players.

The dressing room, lest it be forgotten, is the player's domain.

There is no question about it, the ICC must fight corruption in the sport. In doing so, however, it should guard against treating the players like criminals. It should remember that the players are performers, that they need to be relaxed, to be confident, and that they are respected by millions around the world - to many of whom they are idols or heroes.

The ICC should also remember that it has a responsibility to protect the image of the sport, and that in order to do so it has to protect the image of the players.

The finger of corruption have been pointed at a very few players, but if accepted the recommendations will tarnish the image of all the other players and thus the image of the game.

The game cannot afford that, the ICC should send the recommendations back to its anti-corruption unit, if it does not, the boards around the world should block them, and if they do not, the players should let their voices be heard.

The ICC cannot prevent cricketers from carrying and using cell phones all the time, it cannot prevent them from coming out the dressing rooms and using cell phones elsewhere, and it cannot prevent those who want to be corrupt from being corrupt.

The ICC cannot get rid of corruption. If it really wants to fight it, however, there are only two things it can do.

Number one. Instead of infringing on the players' rights, instead of making the players feel guilty, and apart from preventing anyone without just cause to get into the players' domain, the ICC should come up with a penalty for anyone found guilty that would be so tough that no player would even think about straying from the straight and narrow.

Number two. Having done that, it should ensure that the guilty pay the penalty.

* Tony Becca is a Jamaican sports journalist who has covered West Indies cricket for decades. He writes for the Jamaica Gleaner.