The Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations, the umbrella group for player unions around the world, has been sounded out over the creation of a rebel cricket organisation by intermediaries working for Subhash Chandra, the Indian billionaire and owner of the Essel Group.
The Guardian reported on Friday that the International Cricket Council has launched an urgent investigation after Essel, the conglomerate behind the defunct Indian Cricket League, began setting up companies and website domains that give the appearance of being cricket boards, raising fears over a split in the game.
It has now emerged that Fica, which represents unions from seven Test-playing counties including the Professional Cricketers’ Association in England, had been approached by representatives of Essel at the start of the year to establish whether they were interested in the project.
Fica is understood to have walked away from the talks as it was not comfortable with their clandestine nature and insisted the subject was moot until the details were hardened up and presented above board. No conversations have followed since.
Chandra, whose ICL tournament ran for two years until folding in 2009 amid financial difficulties and allegations of corruption, is clearly intent on pursuing the split and took to Twitter on Monday to reveal he wants to expand the sport beyond its exisiting historical regions.
He insists Lalit Modi, the architect of the Indian Premier League, is not involved. Chandra said: “Essel looks for new initiatives to develop businesses, cricket has potential outside Common Wealth countries. Lalit Modi not involved”
Modi, reacting to an earlier report by the Guardian, added: “I wish @ —SubhashChandra all the best in this new venture. I have nothing to do with it. But we need a rival body.”
Modi, who was thrown out of his IPL job by the Board of Control for Cricket in India in 2010, admitted he was aware of Chandra’s plans for a breakaway but is not involved, tweeting: “I looked at the proposal when presented to me. But decided not for me at the moment. You never know what lies in future.”
While the news of a possible split in world cricket has drawn comparisons with Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket revolution of the 1970s, it appears Essel’s ambitions are far greater, with a new global body being planned that would see control of the sport taken over at international and domestic levels.
Both worldcricketcouncil.in and globalcricketcouncil.in were registered by an employee of Ten Sports – an Essel-owned company – in April last year and the group is understood to be planning an expansion into regions such as North America and China.
That scenario would require swaths of players to sign up and Essel would face a huge task in prising away professional and recreational leagues from their current custodians. Sources have disclosed that wages under the new body could be as much as three times their current level, with Test and Twenty20 the formats played.
Essel’s record – their ICL tournament was wound up after two years, with a reported £1.3m in wages owed to more than 40 players – would make it a huge risk to jump ship and face being banned from the official form of the sport.
The Fica chief executive, Tony Irish, admits players’ heads will always be turned by rebel projects, especially those from outside the so-called Big Three countries of India, England and Australia. “There is always going to be interest from players irrespective of what history has occurred,” Irish told the Sydney Morning Herald. “There will be some reticence from players based on what has happened but I don’t think you can discount the fact players will be interested. International cricket and mainstream cricket have got to be on their toes to keep their players’”
The PCA in England has advised its members to consider the wider picture before signing up to rebel cricket. “We do not respond to speculation and will only react to a proposition as and when it is launched,” the union’s chief executive, Angus Porter, said. “Our members have a responsibility to the world game as a whole, beyond the professional level of the sport, and do not need reminding what can happen when they get the wrong side of politics. Our advice to the players would be to concentrate on playing cricket.”
While players could endanger their careers, Chandra is playing a high-risk game with his existing cricket rights too. The billionaire has long been frustrated by his lack of presence in the lucrative Indian TV market, which led to the creation of the short-lived ICL Twenty20 tournament in 2007. However, his Ten Sports channel does hold the rights to show home internationals played by West Indies, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
The news it was an employee of Ten Sports who registered website addresses for all 10 Test playing nations, along with URLs for associate nations Canada and the United Arab Emirates and 10 regional leagues in India, could jeopardise tours where they are the host broadcaster.
The development has certainly impacted on the negotiations between the England and Wales Cricket Board and the Pakistan Cricket Board, who are still haggling over fixtures for the Test and limited-overs tour scheduled for the UAE in October.
Should the website domains not be deregistered by Ten Sports, it is understood England may consider withdrawing entirely. The tour to South Africa in December, while already arranged, is another Ten Sports production.
