The members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), led by the powerful Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has conveyed a very strong message on the World Cricketers Association (WCA) report. During the recent four-day meet in Zimbabwe, Chief Executives Committee (CEC) of the global cricket body discussed the report, and made it clear that the players can either choose to play the Indian Premier League (IPL) or side with the WCA.
The WCA is believed to be arguing that they represent the players but the ICC has shrugged it off saying they represent cricket boards of their respective countries.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!"The BCCI took a strong stand in the CEC meet and it was unanimously backed by the other members of the CEC. The message is clear - the players can either choose to play the IPL or side with the WCA. There seems to be no ambiguity. As far as the share from the gaming rights revenue is concerned, it's nobody's business. A player represents their cricket board and members of those cricket boards form the ICC. Where and how does WCA come into picture?," question those in know of the developments.
The all-powerful CEC, featuring representatives from Full Members and Associate Members, had a unanimous view on the subject, and even questioned the existence of WCA.
"Who are they? What is the World Cricketers Association? Where have they come from? These are the immediate questions which come to mind. To me they are nothing but a trade union making needless noise. Clearly they don't have the (players') best interests in mind and just want to create distractions. If the ICC reacts (to) or entertains such trade unions mushrooming now and then, then the game will not be in the right space," said a member of the CEC who was part of the WCA discussion.
Amongst the radical suggestions made by the WCA in its 31-page report, the most notable was on overhauling the global cricket body's revenue sharing model. Under the section 'ineffective global distribution models', the WCA highlighted how more than 50% of the revenue is going to the largest three countries with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) pocketing 38.5% of the entire pie.
During the recent survey conducted by the WCA, in which the self-anointed world body questions the logic behind BCCI's share from ICC revenue, a total of 64 individuals were spoken with. And the names are mentioned in the report. Another member of the CEC asserted no changes are expected in the revenue model, and the point wasn't even deliberated upon.
"Before going to the details of the report, first we need to understand who the WCA is, isn't it? And why will the ICC discuss changing the revenue model when it was agreed upon by the members when the Finance and Commercial Affairs Committee had made its recommendations. You fix something when it's broken, and how is this broken?. When the existing model was agreed upon, it was duly noted that the BCCI, the Indian market in particular, is bringing in the most money to the table. So where is rocket science? It's pure math - you bring more, you take more. That's what happens in sales right? More incentives for better sales. What is the need to complicate matters?," questions a veteran administrator.
The FICA changed its name to World Cricketers Association in June last year but its existence is yet to be recognised by the world's biggest cricket board - the BCCI. The ICC has in the past had discussions with FICA but a dialogue with WCA looks far-fetched at the moment.
"Was any decision taken on the WCA report? No. Will a decision be taken on the WCA report? Highly unlikely. So there is no question of a dialogue at the moment. The ICC is still trying to understand the fine prints of the organisation and some of the recommendations are absurd to say the least. They just can't ridicule the ICC and question its existence in the ecosystem. Everyone wants better and bigger things for cricketers but one also needs to understand that there are other moving parts which need to be taken care of," explains the administrator.
The TimesofIndia.com reached out to Mr Gaurav Saxena, global cricket body's new General Manager – Events and Corporate Communications, for a comment but didn't get a response. The news article will be updated the moment ICC responds to TOI.com's queries.