It’s a ladies game!

Saturday, 9 February 2013 00:00 -     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

THE emergence of Sri Lanka’s female cricketers has thrown the corruption and greediness of the game’s administrators into a harsher light.

Termed “giant-killers” by the media, Sri Lanka’s female cricketers have finally given hordes of local fans something to cheer about. This is significant, not only because of the successive scandals that have rocked the cricketing administration, but also because it has brought genuine passion back into the beloved game. It has brought hope.

News reports over the last few days have compared the payment rates of male and female cricketers, showing even more starkly how far one team is favoured over the other. According to news reports the male cricketers are paid US$ 3,500 per one day international while the women are handed a measly US$ 100. The male cricketers are paid US$ 5,000 per test match and US$ 2,700 per T20 and enjoy contracts that can be as much as US$ 100,000 annually.

This is not adding the payment they receive from the Indian Premier League (IPL) and other tournaments as well as revenue from advertising and other endorsements. In contrast, the women are offered little more than Rs. 50 000 monthly payments; even this is limited to their most senior players.

With almost unlimited resources and facilities given to the male cricketers, it was inevitable that corruption also seeped into the game. After the iconic 1996 World Cup win, real money began to flow in and with that came the shady deals, especially in regard to lucrative TV rights contracts.

The shadowy signing and leaving of contracts with cable networks has resulted in Sri Lanka Cricket having to pay off millions of dollars and the stage seems to be set for another deal as the Sports Minister prepares to end the current agreement with Ten Sports and seek fresh tenders.      

According to reports, the cricket board went through an extremely bad experience with TV company Nimbus in 2001 when the then SLC interim committee headed by Vijaya Malalasekara scrapped a deal and SLC ended up paying US$ 5 million in damages to Nimbus. This was repeated in 2011 when the same company sought arbitration over a breach of contract after Nimbus defaulted US$ 3.6 million. An investigation team was ordered to probe the deal but their report was never made public.  

During the same period, Sri Lanka hosted the World Cup and tossed itself into more debt. Desperate for funds and unable to pay players, the cricket administration appealed to the Cabinet for more funds. Impatient with their mismanagement, the Cabinet refused and SLC was forced to tighten their belts by reducing staff and taking stronger fiscal measures.  

Yet, the same malaise continues to corrupt SLC and the Sports Ministry with no steps being taken to provide transparency and accountability for the financial decisions taking place behind the scenes. Millions of dollars in revenue are being lost that could be used to develop other sports but not a word is spoken. Blatant politicisation and cronyism has eroded the love people once had for the sports. Disgusted and helpless, they have transferred their allegiance to their players.

Now the female cricketers have arrived to claim a slice of that adoration. They have brought passion and shown persistence. May they not be tainted by the same corruption that has bogged down the rest.   

 

COMMENTS