Posts
Loading ...Articles tagged as: greed
Stanford close to luring ECB
By Will 4 months ago, 59 Comments »
Allen Stanford and Lalit Modi. Two entirely different characters, both from opposite ends of the world - geographically and, arguably, morally - but both with a shared love of money and cricket. Why do I worry less about the Wild West cowboy, and more about Modi’s modus operandi?
Perhaps it’s because he’s American and has no historical connection to a cricket board. Maybe it’s because he appears to have no dirty agenda to the politics of the sport: he’s seemingly happy to pile money into the flayling West Indies cricket, and anyone else who wants to join in the fun is more than welcome. This sounds naive - of course, billionaires crave and adore money: it is their driving force - but his come-follow-me attitude is refreshing and progressive, which cannot be said of Modi. Modi’s business is power and politics; the IPL has already made him millions, but it is a vehicule to global dominance. We’ve seen this season how the ECB have been tied up in knots banning (and subsequently unbanning) various players who represented the Indian Cricket League - the antichrist to the sanctioned IPL - which demonstrates just how much power the BCCI wields.
Anyway, I digress. I like Mr Stanford and am quite excited by what he could do to counter Modi’s unquenchable thirst for dominance. He has met with the ECB - significantly, the president of the West Indies Cricket Board, Dr Julian Hunte, was also present - to finalise plans for an England v West Indies All Stars XI later this year (and possibly running over five years). The matches themselves aren’t too significant, but it could signal the start of a business relationship which expands far beyond any of our imaginings. Stanford’s 20/20 in the Caribbean was a rollicking success - some say he should be in charge of ICC’s World Cups - so it’ll be fascinating to see what he and England come up with.
59 Comments »Ruining it for the locals
By Will last year, at the start of April, 7 Comments »
What a World Cup is has been so far, a tournament memorable for all the wrong reasons. The gestapo-like restrictions have been mentioned before, but such incredulity needs regular airing.
Vaneisa Baksh writes:
On my bookshelf there are three or four unused tickets that will serve as my pretty World Cup souvenirs. As much as I love the game and want to support it, I couldn’t subject myself to absurd restrictions that tried to masquerade under a security umbrella.
West Indians sensed early that this World Cup cared little for their company, their culture, and ignored the realities of life in this part of the world. So they are staying away from all the grand stadia their governments have spent so much of their money to prepare. It just hasn’t been enough about West Indians; can you blame them?
It is, very nearly, a complete disaster. The only hope for the locals is if, by some strange twist of fate, West Indies make the final. They won’t, though, and the public will stay at home. That feeling of revitalisation - a spring hope that the region would be injected with cricket fever - a few weeks ago has dribbled away. This is largely due to, but not solely restricted to, the ICC’s blind greed, their suffocating marketing tactics and a complete lack of interest, or knowledge, of Caribbean culture. They have distanced the very people that should be instrumental (in every sense of the word) to the tournament’s success. That is quite some feat.
Mike King says:
Locals, alienated by the prices and culture of this global event with its Alcatraz-like policies, have stayed away from even those games featuring the home side.
Long queues for tickets and expensive food have resulted in short tempers, paltry crowds and complaints at every turn.
Prior to the tournament, organisers were boasting of sell-out grounds and marketed the event as the best World Cup ever. To say they got it wrong is an under-statement of gigantic proportions.
The ICC cannot be blamed for the cricket on show - and perhaps that, more than the event’s planning, has affected the region’s apathy. West Indies have, as we all suspected but wished wouldn’t happen, been caught short and exposed. But this tournament has been in planning for over five years. Why, then, has it been such a shambles and who will be called to account?
7 Comments »The slippery slope of commercialisation
By Will 2 years ago, at the start of November, 10 Comments »
It’s everywhere. Everyone sponsors each other. Even the sponsors have their own advertorials. The sponsors are sponsored by other sponsors. It’s another apparently necessary evil of this world.
Cricket has been victim of it for some time but has remained relatively untarnished as a result, until today with the news that Australia has struck a deal with Commonwealth Bank who have secured naming rights for their one-day team. England v Australia in a one-day match is now the stuff of history: read England v Commonwealth Bank Australia.
There are two problems with this. Firstly, it is entirely unnecessary of Cricket Australia who have now surely leap-frogged the BCCI in the Most Greedy Cricket Board league. CA have pots of cash. Sponsorship is one thing; naming rights is new, dirty territory and there can be no other reason than sheer financial greed. Secondly it sets a precedent. How long before other teams follow suit? How long before counties in England are renamed after their own sponsors or, worse, Test sides are named after their richest benefactors?
There is an irony, though. The very definition of commonwealth is just that: a “body politic,” or a government/organisation formed by the consent of the public. Does CA really expect their patriotic fans to agree to this? The old song and chant “Come on Aussie come on!” won’t have quite the same ring to it (”Come on Commonwealth Bank Australia, come on!”).
Idiotic.
10 Comments »Lottery, Euromillions
By Will 2 years ago, mid-January, 3 Comments »
Nothing to do with cricket, this, but I got a text this morning from a friend who told me Euro Millions’ jackpot has now reached £70m. SEVENTY MILLION MOOLARS. What in the name of all that is sane would you, dear reader, do with that much money? Naturally, I’m convinced tomorrow morning I’ll wake up a multi-millionaire - I’ve bought a ticket, in case that wasn’t abundantly clear - and have oodles of ideas as to what I’d do with it. Despite living in London, I’d almost certainly buy two cars, and use neither of them; a Cooper (JCW, the lot) and either a DB9 or a well-conditioned Jenson Interceptor.
Then I’d buy a few flats in London, start one of the dozens of ventures I keep promising myself I’ll do but, frankly, I think I’d still work. I’d get bored otherwise. I’d probably pile a large amount into a cricketing-based project, perhaps a new ground or something ridiculous like that.
And you?
3 Comments »