Tony Becca, Contributing Editor
THE WEST Indies Cricket Board is under fire from all sides, and looking at how it has dealt with things like the dispute with the players, with the sponsorship deal with Digicel, with the report of the Sponsorship Negotiations Review Committee, in many respects it is its own fault.
As the body that runs West Indies cricket, the board has been operating in such a way that it has lost credibility with many of its stakeholders - to the point where some are calling for a shake-up. In fact, some are calling for CARICOM to intervene 2 to put together a group of politicians, businessmen and former players to run West Indies cricket.
According to those pushing for such a move, times have changed and there is need for a change.
INCOMPETENT MEMBERS
As far as they are concerned, unlike years gone by when board members were knowledgeable, dedicated and committed, the members of the board, most of them are incompetent, lazy, secretive, self-serving and have little interest in the growth, the development and therefore the standard of West Indies cricket, and should be removed.
On top of all that, the cry is that there is no transparency in the business of the board, and it is the right of the people, the fans, to know what is happening every time and all the time.
While there is a lot of truth in what is being said, while there is a need for transparency, while there is definitely a need to look at the members of the board, any change must be made by the fraternity and not by politicians or businessmen at least not until there is a change in the present system.
SELECTION PROTOCOL
According to the system, clubs vote for the members of their managing committee, representa-tives of those committees vote
for members of the territorial boards and each territorial board, then selects or elect its two representatives to the West Indies Board.
In other words, but for the president and the vice-president, who can come from the general public, all board members are selected or elected by their peers, and like it or not until that is changed, that is how it is and how it should be.
There are, however, at least two problems with that.
One is that it limits those who can serve to those who are members of clubs, and two is that the membership of the clubs these days is such that quality people, knowledgeable and influential people, and good leaders are few and far between.
In order to change things, therefore, people of quality, people who are really interested in the game, need to become members of the clubs and get involved.
As long as those who can really contribute to the development of the game and the proper running of the game stay away, those with nothing but their time to offer will always be elected or selected to the leadership of the game. It is as simple as that.
There is no question about it - West Indies cricket needs some quality people at the top and it needs some good leaders.
EFFECTING CHANGE
Regardless of what cricket means to the people, however, it is the clubs through their representa-tives, then the territories through their representatives that must make any changes that are necessary, and whoever is interested in having a say, in making an input, should get involved.
Remembering that West Indies cricket depends on its fans - those who pay at the gates, on its sponsors, and sometimes on the governments of CARICOM, the business of the board should be and needs to be transparent.
Although the board has a responsibility to its fans and sponsors, however, although it should have a good relationship with the governments of CARICOM, the reality of situation is that the board, based on the system, is accountable only to its six affiliates just as the territories, the six affiliates, are accountable only to their affiliates, the clubs.
