For a few dollars more

Cricket one hailed as the gentlemen’s game and once indulged in by the noblemen is already walloped and digested by commercialism. And today, at this very World Cup the danger of this great cancer is showing some of the roots that it has taken to eat into the beauty of this loved sport.

A while ago the players association was protesting over the ICC’s newly launched future tours programme arguing that it was detrimental to the well being of the players and the World’s Cricket governing body was only interested in the bottom line and not the players themselves.

Then at the World Cup proper the West Indian cricket fans were of the view that the game had been more TV savvy and the venues moved into the suburbs from the customary city and priced out of their reach.

At the same time the money culture in the sport has seen its real ugly side too. Cricket has gone through the unsavoury experiences of the untimely demise of cricketers in the calibre of Hanse Cronje and Bob Woolmer along with the elimination from the field players such as Mohammed Azharuddin, Salim Malik and Ajey Jadeja who have now been castigated as the paraiahs of the game and barred from participation at all levels.

Then in the article that is running parallel to this the BCCI is taking stern note about the influence that the advertisers have over the modern day cricketers and how that very influence could affect the careers of the players and the effect it will have on the game itself.

Rather disturbing indeed. Now it seems that the money culture has crept into every form of the game and the very performances of these cricketers who play the game in the middle may depend upon the eventualities of these sponsorship and advertising deals they strike up with these conglomerates who may have the ultimate say in the World Cups possibly in future years.

Early last week while skimming through my computer I came across another disturbing aspect to this whole ill tasting episode. While reading about the Indian Cricket probe into the game’s debacle at the World Cup on ‘Zee’ sport this interesting probe caught my eye.

“It has come to the BCCI`s notice that at least two senior Indian players have a "minutes-related clause" in their endorsement contracts, which gives them extra money in the forms of a bonus for the amount of time they spent in the middle. The article said.

Then speaking about the influence of the problem at hand it went on to say “The Board fears that such a clause has the potential to strongly influence the way a player, especially a batsman, approaches his game, opting to spend more time in the middle, while tending to ignore the demands of the team. In other words, the longer a player stays on the TV screen, the more his market value. “And this, said a top official, was the main reason for the BCCI working committee’s decision on Saturday that "players shall take prior approval of the Board before signing any endorsement contract and will submit a copy of the agreement to the Board."

Players have also been asked to "submit a copy of the existing contracts with sponsors to the Board" though the BCCI may not be able to enforce any changes. "This clause has been brought to our notice and we are aware of the damaging potential it contains," a top BCCI source told this newspaper.

The BCCI is particularly worried about the possibilities such a clause opens up: besides affecting the individual performance of players, they fear it could even influence team decisions, such as opting to bat first against weaker opposition, when the basmen are assured of a full quota of 50 overs.

“In fact, the issue of endorsements affecting performance has been the key theme of the BCCI`s two-day review meeting here following the World Cup debacle. It was first raised by Kapil Dev during last afternoon`s meeting between BCCI officials and former India captains. "We felt that for the players to remain focused, they should not be allowed to do any sponsor-related events 15 days before the tour and during the tour. We had also suggested a cap on the number of brands. We also came up with a number of other suggestions to ensure that this issue does not affect a player`s performance," Kapil Dev told The Indian Express. The Board panel today also decided to limit the number of players who can sign for the same sponsor, as recommended by the former captains and ex-coach Greg Chappell. This move, as this paper reported yesterday, is aimed at curbing the influence a particular business house can possibly wield on team affairs, particularly while selecting the final XI.

“The other important endorsement-related decision taken today was to limit the number of sponsors or products that any single player can endorse to just three.

"These are serious issues that need to be looked into while evaluating the performance of the players," said the source, who was part of yesterday’s review meeting and today’s working committee deliberations. With the team flopping badly, the BCCI obviously has chosen the right moment to strike back at some of the senior players who had stood up to its arm-twisting tactics during the messy contracts negotiations last year.But now, even the players realise that there`s nothing much they can do till maybe Indian cricket hits another high and they are back in demand. One of the two players this paper contacted to discuss this issue summed it up like this: "All I can tell you is that this is not over yet."

On one hand the game has its governing authority trying to spin more money on to themselves so that they could spread the game into every corner of the World – and once again the ultimate aim is that more people engaged in the game means that game gets more dollars into its coffers.

At the same time from the serious form the traditional five day Test cricket which nurtured the sport till the 1960’s the game started getting more simplified with the game diluting into the 60 overs and then 50 overs to the new gimmick of 20-20 cricket which they hoping to use as a vehicle to spread the game to the unknown.

As mentioned at the beginning the game’s gentlemen were not remunerated but, the players who facilitated the gentlemen to indulge in their past time were paid, but they only had second class status in the sport.

However today as the vicious circles goes around the priorities have changed and the game itself had developed into a multi-million dollar business which is digging a bottomless pit to stack its wealth and the hole grows deeper by the hour. In this scenario the players who are the ultimate actors in the middle who keep the people glued on to their televisions to see them in action get more and more avenues of getting distracted and commercial minded.

India and Pakistan may have lost out in this World Cup, but, now there will be more and more interest diverted towards this game in Bangladesh which also has a sizeable population. Jump of joy! Another huge market is captured. At the same time with the slight set backs the game of cricket will not die in India and Pakistan and with the next big win for either country once again those who burned their effigies will start worshipping them and the quest for the next hidden dollar will continue without any hindrance.

Sri Lanka on their part won the World Cup once and it is only now that we see how the game has evolved into a blistering tirade, full of turn coats who wouldn’t stop short of anything just to get the magic wand of power into their hands. Once they get it they know the sky is the limit. Now amidst this debacle in the two power houses in cricket in the Indian Sub-continent another volcano is just about to erupt. That is the Bangladesh cricket which is fast turning into a another super power which gives a good and healthy past time to millions of cricket fans and the chance to thousands of more products a chance to use “Ashrafuls and the other new kids in the block” as powerful vehicles to sell their products and at the same time give life to another set of demi-gods who they could beat up when they lose.

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