Cricket is in good hands

Jul 17, 2018 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The rivalry for control of cricket administration in Guyana is just as intense as the contest for the Chairmanship of the People’s National Congress Reform. Cricket administration is the local crown jewel which carpetbaggers want to secure.

All manner of strategies have been used to gain control of the administration of cricket. Political and legal pressures have been brought to bear on the GCB which had to be running up and down the court steps instead of devoting more time to organizing local cricket.

There has been a long power struggle within the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB). Those after power claim they are acting in the interest of the future of cricket. But they are more interested in dethroning the present executive. The motivation is therefore not about rescuing cricket; it is about recusing those who are in control so that others can gain control.

The GCB over the past 20 years has done more for local cricket than at any other previous time. Why then would there be such an intense power struggle?

There was a time when cricket was in the doldrums. And it took Chetram Singh to come forward and rescue cricket. ‘Chetty’ put his personal money into his adopted club and into national cricket administration. The present administration is the successor of the Chetram Singh legacy. If Chetram Singh did not put his own money into administration, the game would have hit rock bottom.

The reason is simple. Cricket is big money. Cricket is now commercialized. Cricket administration is now professionalized. There are enormous benefits which come from being Guyana’s representative on the West Indies Cricket Board. Some persons want those benefits.

Guyana’s cricket needs persons who will give back to the administration of the game; not those who want to be rewarded from the game. This is what cricket needs. It does not need a selfish power struggle.

Cricket in Guyana is being affected because of the power struggle within the GCB. And this power struggle is so petty that it is unbelievable. And cricket is suffering because of this tug-of war.

Cricket administration in Guyana is democratic. It is not, unlike what some people feel, controlled by oligarchic elements. The Guyana Cricket Board has a constitution and it has associations, and clubs chose their representatives to those associations.

All manner of devices have been used to try to seize control of cricket administration. First, the lie was spread that the Guyana Cricket Board was not accountable. This was a PPPC lie. The facts proved otherwise. The most accountable of sporting organizations in this country is the Guyana Cricket Board.

The PPPC wanted to seize control of cricket since it was seen as cash cow for investments of the oligarchic class which was aligned to Jagdeo. The PPPC wanted to control the Guyana Cricket Board so that they could eventually invest in the West Indies Cricket Board. The friends of the PPPC were interested in toppling the Guyana Cricket Board so that they could advance their business concerns.

The attempts to seize control of the GCB failed. It was resisted. The PPP then tried to gerrymander the representation of associations by proposing, for the first time, a Cricket Act with rules as to how the GCB should be constituted. That too did not succeed.

In fact, every attempt made at trying to topple the lawful representatives of cricket has failed. And so now, the most desperate of measures is being attempted. After all attempts have failed, the race card is being played.

Race is now being used to try to unseat the representatives of the Guyana Cricket Board. It is now contended that the ethnic composition of the GCB is not representative of Guyana. No one makes a similar claim for any other sport. No one makes such a claim of even the government. But race has now become the last straw of desperate men who see the crown jewel of cricket administration vanishing before their eyes.

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