The Ramphal Mediation

Aug 02, 2009 Editorial

Yesterday, we in Guyana commemorated Emancipation Day. So did the rest of the islands in the West Indies that had been ruled by Britain which, after hundreds of years, had decided that slavery had to be abolished. Out of the crucible of slavery (and its successor modes of control such as indentureship) however, a people had been formed: we spoke the same creole language, ate the same creole food, danced the same creole dances and played the same creole games.

And cricket, as we played it, became a creole game – one that might have originated and nurtured on the grounds of Eton, Harrow and Lords but under our genius transcended its staid English forms. We created a game that was liberating because it literally freed us from the feelings of inferiority that had been inculcated into our psyches in those many centuries of bondage. We became the favourite team of so many other countries – not only because we had beaten England, the old nemesis, but because of the panache and lack of hubris in which we introduced into the game.

By that time, cricket had become practically the only viable institution that remained out of our shared sense of peoplehood. Britain had attempted to cobble together a unified political entity called the “West Indian Federation”. But that experiment failed because of power-hungry local leaders that we have dubbed “Little Caesars” in this space: guppies that would kid themselves that they were sharks by swimming in minuscule ponds. The present Caricom initiative at forging a common destiny – after thirty six years – is also foundering because of the same “Little Caesar” syndrome.

And now we have arrived at a point where the last nail is seemingly being hammered into the coffin of cricket. We will not go over the background we outlined in our editorial of three weeks ago, “Killing W.I. Cricket”, about the impasse between the WICB and the WIPA excepting to point out that it is obvious that the stated differences over pay and contracts are merely the occasion for the war and not its cause.
The latter, unfortunately has to do with the same disease that has affected the larger body politic: the struggle for power by lower layers of “Little Caesars”. While in “Killing WI Cricket” we focused on the culpability of the WICB, it is obvious that the players and their representatives on the WIPA have not been immune from the syndrome – especially in an era of mega contracts and endorsements for players.

We therefore welcome the acceptance of Sir Sridath Ramphal to mediate in the latest dispute that has served to highlight the fragility of our unified approach on cricket. Already we have heard threats by some of the regional cricketing boards, notably the wealthiest one, T&T, that it may be best for them to enter the international arena on their own. Sir Sridath, as one who has been intimately involved in our larger political and economic integration efforts from the beginning, would know the ultimate futility of such approaches. Cricket has grown into a mega-professional sport in the age of globalisation and even a unified WI cricket institution will be hard pressed to compete with the new global powerhouses, much less the individual territories.

And those teams that are not competitive will never attract the big bucks from the broadcasting and advertising worlds that drive modern sports. We will founder forever in our mediocrity. Sir Sridath has been invited to mediate not only in the pay and contract dispute between the WICB and the WIPA but also “to set their relationship on a path of lasting co-operation.” This means that he has to also place on the table recommendations that go to the heart of resuscitating WI Cricket.
He has available the Report of ex-Jamaican PM, Percival J. Patterson and the three WI cricketing “wise men” that was submitted two years ago but was allowed to die on the vine by the “Little Caesars” on the WICB.
We urge him not to settle for a superficial approach and use the Patterson report as the basis for reforming WI Cricket, “root and branch”.

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