Friends, if you are follower of cricket then you must have come across a term which has been in news very frequently now a days ie. Conflict of Interest. What does it mean in regard to cricket- it means that a person or a ex player can not work on two assignments simultaneously. There have been instances where a ex player is doing commentary plus he is doing coaching job or he is doing administrative job with IPL franchise plus he is doing commentary/coaching job.
When Supreme Court appointed Lodha committee was entrusted with the job of streamlining the functioning of BCCI, this was one issue which was pointed out by this committee.
Most of the ex players are of the opinion that some of the recommendations of the committee are impractical. As per them assignments are for short term, may for few months, and for the rest of the months of the year they take some other assignment, then there should not be Conflict of Interest clause applicable. Yes at some instance Conflict of Interest can come into picture, like in the case if ex player is selector plus he is into coaching of budding players then conflict is possible.
Conflict of Interest was once again the talking point as a few former and current India players, including ex-captain Sourav Ganguly, Irfan Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Sanjay Manjrekar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Rohan Gavaskar and Parthiv Patel met the Committee of Administrators (COA) appointed by SC, in Mumbai recently.
The conflict of interest issue has affected quite a few former cricketers, including greats like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Ganguly, with all of them getting notices in the recent past following complaints.
COA members Diana Edulji and Lt Gen (Retd) Ravi Thodge attended this meeting on behalf of the BCCI, in Mumbai.
The players’ group which attended the meeting, stated that it was unfair on the player, who is just part of the IPL — which runs for around two months – to be not allowed to do anything else for the rest of the year due to the conflict of interest issue. As per the new BCCI constitution, one person should have only one post to avoid violating the Conflict of Interest clause.
The dual roles played by former and current players like doing commentary and playing/mentoring in IPL/domestic cricket or coaching in the IPL or being a part of support staff or holding an administrative post in the IPL franchise, have all come under the scanner.
The players have suggested options like having a short term contract only for the duration of IPL, so the cricketer is free to do other assignments during rest of the year.
Citing the example of Dravid, who recently got a notice from the BCCI ethics officer DK Jain, Ganguly sought clarity from the COA on the issue.
According to details available, Dravid was allegedly conflicted as he was the National Cricket Academy director and also employed as vice-president of the India Cements Group, which owns the IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings. All the players who attended the meeting with COA, were unanimous in their stand that the players should be allowed to take up positions in cricket even though they are employed by big firms.
The COA is facing practical problem in enforcing the Conflict of Interest guidelines on day to day in BCCI operations.
Diana Edulji and her colleague Lt Gen (Retd) Ravi Thodge ( Committee of Administrators) met past and present cricketers, including former national captains Dilip Vengsarkar and Sourav Ganguly (via Skype), to discuss the problems caused due to the conflict clause incorporated by the Supreme Court-appointed Justice Lodha panel.
Stalwarts like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Ganguly and VVS Laxman are all facing alleged conflict issues with notices served by Ethics Officer Justice (Retd) DK Jain at various point in time.
After hearing from players, COA said that they are going to formulate a white Paper and submit same to SC. But as of now Conflict of interest rules have to be adhered, unless SC amends it . As per COA cricket is having a bit problem with these conflict rules, but once the white Paper is put properly to the SC, it will definitely understand and issue will be resolved.
In my opinion, there are some genuine problems faced by players/ex players, but BCCI or actually now COA are bound by SC. It is definitely the fault of BCCI who before SC intervened was running the cricket administration on the whims and fancies of the President who occupied the chair.
Secondly there is too much money in the cricket now ,and all the players-present and ex want to en cash their talent and make the moolah while sun shines . I do not blame them as the life span of cricketer is not like other professions, and they have to make money in the short span. Presently there is trend among budding cricketers to get selected in some league like IPL and make money in short span.
Let us wait and watch for the future development in this matter.
Waiting for your views/feed backs/comments.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
20th Aug 2019