-needs to shape up or ship out
By Orin Davidson
“The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) does not depend on Mr. Allen Stanford for its financial well-being,”
Such a statement, so boorish in tone and thought, would be expected from a high-and-mighty establishment, awash in success and secure in its independence.
Well, guess what?
You would be shocked to discover that statement came from none other than the West Indies Cricket Board president, Julian Hunte.
Hunte is the head of an organization which has long developed a reputation as one of the worst managed national cricket entities which has resulted in it being mired in financial distress for most of its existence.
According to the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) Hunte, the latest head of the WICB was reacting to speculation that the organization faced a bleak financial future following Stanford’s decision to rethink his continued investment in West Indies cricket.
Even if the WICB head wants to pretend they will not miss Stanford’s philanthropy, Hunte’s declaration was arrogant and uncalled for and could drive home the final nail in the coffin burying the American billionaire businessman’s relationship with the regional sport.
If Hunte feels the WICB could do without Stanford’s money, it would be at a regrettable cost?
West Indies cricket will continue to exist but in its stagnated, backward state without much hope for development which is responsible for the regional team being rooted at the bottom of the world rankings for more than a decade.
Hunte claims the WICB has only earned US $2m from its relationship with Stanford so far.
But what of all the disbursements to the individual territories since 2006?
What about the increased interest among West Indians following the impact of the three Stanford tournaments staged so far not to mention the professionalism that all those players learnt, especially the Stanford All Stars in preparing for those competitions and the staggering financial rewards that came with them.
Could Hunte and his WICB ever dream of making 11 players instant millionaires and enrich others from the Guyana, Trinidad and Jamaica teams which cashed in from the Stanford Twenty20 series within two short years?
In addition, the WICB stood to earn many millions more from Stanford over the next five years.
Stanford came into West Indies cricket on his own accord.
He did not have to be goaded by the WICB and they ought to be grateful for his investment.
In the current climate of global economic problems where sports sponsorship is already taking a hit, does Hunte really believe it will be easier to attract investors to West Indies cricket?
At a time when the England and Wales Cricket Board was sent into a panic following Stanford’s planned review which includes competitions in England, the WICB president is exhibiting a “don’t care” attitude.
This is the ECB that could afford to continuously sign scores of players to high paying contracts to the national squad and which rakes in multi millions more every year from television rights, sponsorship and gate revenues.
With Stanford on board, the ECB has the opportunity to earn much more, and from the jittery reaction of its officials, one can see the level of importance they have attached to preserving their relationship with the American financial mogul.
Compare the ECB’s resources to that of the WICB – which can only talk of contracting its players full time; cannot afford a professional league; cannot afford a single academy for players and has to make do with two amateur miniature competitions for the senior team and you appreciate the magnitude of Hunte’s intolerable outburst.
And this is from the leader of an organization that has committed almost every blunder by a professional sports entity, the latest being its failed attempt to breach its sponsorship contract with Digicel, which resulted in an embarrassing and costly court defeat, which from all appearances, precipitated Stanford’s action.
The world knows the sordid details surrounding the WICB’s attempt to give Stanford unilateral rights to the team comprising West Indies players (Stanford All Stars) that eventually beat England in the US $20 million dollar Stanford 20/20 for 20 winner take all game.
In these days of stringent accountability, in any other international sports body, you would’ve had mass resignations.
Instead you have the president behaving as though he has just conquered the world and have a right to be pompous.
It brings to the surface once again the misguided thinking of West Indian sports administrators.
From all appearances Hunte believes West Indies cricket is all about himself and his cohorts of 18-odd directors and their paid employees.
This level of indignant behaviour and the failures of the previous holders of office are continuing to aggravate the West Indies cricket public, to whom the sport belongs and for whom every player and official is obligated to give their best for, first and foremost.
You are forced to believe that Hunte and company are refusing to accept this reality as they continue to act oblivious of the resentment of fans and supporters.
If he wants further evidence, Hunte only has to stage a poll throughout the West Indies and beyond among those fans.
It would reveal an overwhelming desire to rid the WICB of the majority of its administrators and the current failed structure used to manage the sport.
The fans know that the interests of the sport play second fiddle to almost everything else within the WICB, especially appointments, particularly the cricket ones.
The WICB continues to ignore the Patterson Report, compiled by three distinguished sons of the region, which exposed in detail the flaws inherent in the WICB’s operations and the recommendations made.
And, despite the public put-down of Hunte and his CEO by Digicel Chairman Dennis O’ Brien who called for their resignations, the president continues to do what he knows best, that of playing politics.
He is always quick out of the blocks to respond to any media report or statement the board believes shows it in poor light. They would win an A grade for defence mechanism activation.
West Indies cricket though is the wrong forum to play politics.
It is not St Lucia politics where Hunte was a prominent player and apparently got his own way using such tactics while operating from the opposition ranks.
West Indies cricket is much bigger than that. It affects the lives of eight million people in the region and more overseas.
Hunte must either shape up or ship out.
