Clubs with better facilities to have a bigger say
In one of the most progressive moves in the Lankan cricket administrative annals, SLC is seriously contemplating a restructure of its voting system.
Right now they have obtained all details about the individual clubs and are scrutinising ways of formalising the voting system according to the merit of each individual member club.
A century old club like NCC with all facilities and more contribution to the national grid is compelled to vote akin to a club with lesser facilities under the present system - Pic by Susantha Liyanawatte
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Vice President Mohan de Silva, answering a question about the intricate voting system of SLC, explained to the Sunday Times, “Sri Lanka Cricket at present provides for member clubs to come and vote at their Annual General Meeting. This is a system that has evolved with time and the respective clubs have acquired that status, through the provisions of the constitution of Sri Lanka Cricket. However, after the Haroon Lorgat report, the Governance Review Committee was first set up by the then-President Upali Dharmadasa and this committee constituted personnel in the calibre of Sidath Wettimuny, Michael Tissera and even I was drafted into the committee even though I was not a member in the system at that time. The Committee was headed by Palitha Kumarasinghe PC. The Committee met a couple of times and made some submissions.
“We have revived this committee. We have now introduced a scorecard system to ascertain the correct status of a club, in order to introduce changes. A club like SSC which has about seven thousand members and possessing all the infrastructure facilities for players and playing at a higher level enjoys the same status as another club which is playing at a much lower level. This is the disparity that we are working on. Those disparities will now be taken into consideration and a new and more vibrant structure would be formulated that would add better value to Sri Lankan cricket.”
When pointed out against clubs like SSC, NCC along with some other leading clubs which provides and harness the game in Sri Lanka, there are clubs which hardly contribute to the cause of cricket, but, enjoy voting rights; the vice president explained “This situation was created over a period of time. A club gets affiliated with Sri Lanka Cricket and they join as associated members. After five years they can apply for affiliate status. Once you are an affiliate member you get one vote. There are 26 affiliated member clubs with Sri Lanka Cricket. After having being an affiliated member for five years, and if the club has its own grounds, the club could apply for the status of a controlling club. There are 29 controlling clubs which include premier clubs like SSC, NCC, Colts, Moors, BRC and Tamil Union and so on and some of those clubs do play the game in the same level as a premier clubs do, but they enjoy the same number of votes. So there is a huge disparity in the system and this is the status that we are looking to put right.”
De Silva said that the clubs that have the infrastructure and the facilities and do produce national cricketers should have a bigger say in the system.