Fortunately or unfortunately, a member of BU witnessed the People’s Business Show aired on CBC TV on Sunday night (13 September 2009). The show featured Donna Symmonds, WIPA’s legal adviser; Conde Riley, the former WICB Director who recently resigned in controversial manner and sports journalist Keith Holder. The program was hosted by CBC journalist Andi Thornhill.
If Barbadians were not aware of the reason why the current impasse in West Indies cricket has not yet been solved, it became very clear after viewing the TV program. We are tempted to use the analogy of the thriller in Manila boxing match. On second thoughts, it wouldn’t be appropriate to do so because there was a winner and loser on that night when the world witnessed one of the most existing boxing matches in history. On the People’s Business TV Show, Conde Riley representing the views of WICB, and Donna Symmonds those of WIPA, jabbed and punched themselves on the many issues, known and unknown to the public until they were blue in the face. When the program was finished both were still standing. It is clear this issue has mushroomed to a battle of wills between WICB and WIPA.
The impasse which has arisen in West Indies cricket has now escalated to a level where the current actors from WICB and the WIPA should be replaced immediately. All goodwill has long disappeared. Even if the recent rescue plan announced by CARICOM governments were to clear the way for the re-entry of the striking players, it is apparent to all that too much blood has been shed for the current actors to salvage any measure of trust to build the necessary cohesion which is required to move West Indies cricket forward. Sports, cricket included is now seen as a business. In the West Indies we continue to operate as if the world has stood still regarding sports management.
If one were to judge from the call-in shows, man on the street, rum shop or attendance at cricket matches, West Indian fans have turn their backs on the game cricket. It is a game which West Indies were thought by the colonial masters and one which they mastered to become world champions. Ironically, some may say it is the dominance of the West Indies in world cricket under Clive Lloyd and Sir Vivian Richards which may have led to the place where our cricket finds itself.
Many Caricom countries who could not afford it invested millions of dollars in stadia and infrastructure to host CWC2007. The decision obviously reflected their commitment to the game. The regionalist argue that cricket and the UWI are the institutions which keep the notion of regional integration alive. If cricket fails, Ramphall, Patterson, Arthur, Sir Hilary et al will feel a since of failure given the rupture which will occur to their legacies. Commonsense clearly shows that the current archaic management structure represented by the WICB is woefully inadequate to effectively direct cricket. The fact that WIPA has been able to organize itself to a point where it is well ahead of the WICB in the tactics of negotiating is proof of WICB’s short comings.
The matter has become so complicated it is difficult for us on the outside to offer any realistic suggestions. What is clear given what we saw tonight on the CBC Show, the two sides are miles apart. The Caricom intervention is likely a bandage solution which prompts the question – What does the future hold for West Indies cricket?
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