St. Vincent Prime Minister advises limited state intervention in the WICB and WIPA dispute – Cricket News Update
In a recent affair, Dr Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister for St. Vincent advised the regional Caribbean Community (Caricom) governments to ease out on the ongoing dispute between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players Association
(WIPA).
The Prime Minister’s advice came after the recent Caricom Summit at St. Kitts that resulted in a verdict to reactivate the Prime Ministerial sub-committee, featuring Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad, and Tobago; and is to be headed by the Antigua and
Barbuda’s Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer.
According to reports, the major minutes from the meeting included brining a resolute decision to the ongoing dispute between WICB and the WIPA. The summit members were also asked to heed into matters such as the management of the sport in the region.
Initially, state intervention in West Indies cricket came after former Captain, Chris Gayle’s appeal to the Guyana President, Bharrat Jagdeo, who was asked by the player to intervene in the ongoing issue with the WICB.
The player entered into a vendetta with the Board after Gayle’s participation in the Indian Premier League (IPL), which the player opted over national duty. Gayle’s decision resulted in repeated exclusion from the Windies squad. The player was eventually
axed from the recent series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750.
However, Gonsalves’ suggestion to the government officials came after recent affair that involved the International Cricket Council’s (http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625) initiative to free its member boards from political intervention.
The Prime Minister cited that the governments should tread on to the matter and stated that the WICB is a ‘private entity’ which is not answerable to any government.
Gonsalves further added that the state role should be limited to a consultative one and not the decisive one.
"Let's assume that the governments wrote to the WICB and said, 'we want a settlement between you all and WIPA or any particular set of players', and the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760 Cricket Board wrote back and said 'I'm sorry. The players are our employees and we have contractual
arrangements with them and we don't see how you can help us" said Gonsalves.
However, Gonsalves also added that cricket should not be left alone in the region, and proper attention should be given to the sport, but it should be kept in mind that state intervention in the game should come within boundaries.
Tags: