FICA CEO Tim May blasts BCCI for misuse of power
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
By Qaiser Mohammad Ali in New Delhi
New Delhi: THE Indian cricket Board has “ inequitable power” and it doesn’t blink while using it ruthlessly when it comes to cases like having someone like Laxman Sivaramakrishnan elected on the ICC Cricket Committee, alleges Tim May, CEO of the Federation of International Cricketers Association (FICA).
May feels actions like the BCCI allegedly takes would only make players’ unions eventually stronger. BCCI, incidentally, does not recognise any player association; rather, there is none in India at the moment.
Former Australia off- spinner May, who lost to Sivaramakrishnan in a poll to be the players’ representative on the committee, also says that the bigger concern for him is the way the International Cricket Council operates. He alleges “threats and intimidation” is used in decision making at the highest level.
“I am not hurt or disappointed with the BCCI; it’s commonly accepted in cricket circles that they are the most powerful cricket body and do not hesitate to use such inequitable power around the decision- making table,” May told Mail Today.
He said that FICA has long been questioning the way ICC works in certain spheres. “This isn’t an isolated instance; it’s a concern that has been consistently expressed about the governance style of the ICC, most recently by an independent Woolf Report,” he said about the former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales who recommended many changes in ICC’s structure.
The Aussie insisted that the issue is bigger that merely his defeat and the manner in which it came about.
“It’s the ICC’s voting process,” May said, referring to the voting done by the 10 Test captains who choose players’ representative on the ICC Cricket Committee.
“It’s up to them to police their processes and members’ codes of conduct,” he said. “ It’s important that cricket gets its governance correct, so as to ensure that the ICC can meet its charter of acting in the best interests of the game overall.”
The 16- member ICC Cricket Committee now has three Indians, including chairman Anil Kumble, who succeeded Clive Lloyd.
Ravi Shastri, the media representative, is the third one.
The first meeting of the committee will be held on May 28 and 29 in London. M AY and critics like him point out that the Indian has never held any position in either BCCI or ICC. And that it’s only because of his association with his employer India Cements, the company owned by BCCI president N Srinivasan, that Sivaramakrishnan has been treated preferentially.
On the other hand, May has been fighting for players’ cause for more than 15 years and was instrumental in setting up FICA, which now has the national player unions of seven of the 10 Test playing nations. India, Pakistan and Zimbabwe are still not on board.
May, however, is sure that incidents like this would make players gel strongly. “These sorts of actions by Boards only make the player group and player associations more determined and stronger,” May said.
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
By Qaiser Mohammad Ali in New Delhi
New Delhi: THE Indian cricket Board has “ inequitable power” and it doesn’t blink while using it ruthlessly when it comes to cases like having someone like Laxman Sivaramakrishnan elected on the ICC Cricket Committee, alleges Tim May, CEO of the Federation of International Cricketers Association (FICA).
May feels actions like the BCCI allegedly takes would only make players’ unions eventually stronger. BCCI, incidentally, does not recognise any player association; rather, there is none in India at the moment.
Former Australia off- spinner May, who lost to Sivaramakrishnan in a poll to be the players’ representative on the committee, also says that the bigger concern for him is the way the International Cricket Council operates. He alleges “threats and intimidation” is used in decision making at the highest level.
“I am not hurt or disappointed with the BCCI; it’s commonly accepted in cricket circles that they are the most powerful cricket body and do not hesitate to use such inequitable power around the decision- making table,” May told Mail Today.
He said that FICA has long been questioning the way ICC works in certain spheres. “This isn’t an isolated instance; it’s a concern that has been consistently expressed about the governance style of the ICC, most recently by an independent Woolf Report,” he said about the former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales who recommended many changes in ICC’s structure.
The Aussie insisted that the issue is bigger that merely his defeat and the manner in which it came about.
“It’s the ICC’s voting process,” May said, referring to the voting done by the 10 Test captains who choose players’ representative on the ICC Cricket Committee.
“It’s up to them to police their processes and members’ codes of conduct,” he said. “ It’s important that cricket gets its governance correct, so as to ensure that the ICC can meet its charter of acting in the best interests of the game overall.”
The 16- member ICC Cricket Committee now has three Indians, including chairman Anil Kumble, who succeeded Clive Lloyd.
Ravi Shastri, the media representative, is the third one.
The first meeting of the committee will be held on May 28 and 29 in London. M AY and critics like him point out that the Indian has never held any position in either BCCI or ICC. And that it’s only because of his association with his employer India Cements, the company owned by BCCI president N Srinivasan, that Sivaramakrishnan has been treated preferentially.
On the other hand, May has been fighting for players’ cause for more than 15 years and was instrumental in setting up FICA, which now has the national player unions of seven of the 10 Test playing nations. India, Pakistan and Zimbabwe are still not on board.
May, however, is sure that incidents like this would make players gel strongly. “These sorts of actions by Boards only make the player group and player associations more determined and stronger,” May said.
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