Allegations of spot-fixing, brawl involving an owner, drunken behaviour and an emotional outburst by another team owner. Have I left anything? Honestly, I wouldn’t know because the Indian Premier League has thrown up a few things like never before. Yes, when Ravindra Jadeja and Manish Pandey were pulled up a couple of seasons back, you knew something was amiss — but a remedial action was enough to convince the common man that all was well. Maybe, that’s the need of the hour: To act now and win back the people who have the right to be disillusioned.
We spend our primetime viewing focusing on ‘what happens next’ in the IPL. So much so, that Mary Kom’s qualification for the Olympics was mentioned in passing.
Money will always be the central theme here. Commercialisation is a product of capitalism. Finding romance in this age of commercialisation is a challenge to the league.
Therefore, there’s no point in arguing whether the Rs30 lakh ceiling should be done away with. It’s like upgrading your standard of living - the more you have, the more you want. If only, the stake holders can come clean on the payments made to individuals, it will help win the trust of those genuinely interested in the sport. And by everyone, I mean the owners, the players and the biggest of them all, the people.
The TV stings may or may not contain substance, but things have come to such a pass that every last ball boundary could be viewed with scepticism. Every moment that turns the match around might be seen with a pair of magnifying glasses. No sport deserves this.
Transparent sports governance, therefore, is the need of the hour. There is no one model that can straightaway be plucked and implemented in another system. Cultural, historical and economic context of a system have to be taken into consideration. Therefore, over a period of time, there will be teething issues that can sometimes eat into the credibility of the league.
The Italian Serie A has more than once been involved in match fixing scandals. Juventus were stripped of the title they won a few years back. They were shown the door. The club fought back and are the current Serie A champions. There is hardly a system that doesn’t have people bending rules; trustworthy systems are those that come stronger in the face of adversity.
The idea is to form a body that leaves no room for distrust. It should be able to cut through status and enforce rules.
If its idea was to spread the game of cricket across the world, it should also convey the meaning of the game. False leads will not help in retaining people for long. If people have been lured by a few extra bucks to let their team down, with sufficient proof, they should be asked not to worry about cricket. Discerning what’s right and what’s not for the purpose of development of sport is essential. Once we progress towards achieving that, we shall gain trust in the process.
Financially, for example, the removal of Rs 30 lakhs ceiling for uncapped players will help open negotiations for the players involved and perhaps rightly so. Every league has had its fair share of regulatory issues and almost every club would have witnessed a few heartburns. A Samir Nasri left Arsenal for Manchester City, according to him, in search of titles. I’m sure he would have thought of the decision to leave the Emirates a few times if his salary hadn’t been tripled.
Add to that, the role of agents and therefore inability of some of the top managers to influence players. It’s a phenomenon across the world. Despite the existence of the Premier League for the past two decades, Arsene Wenger’s perception of managing the books is very different to Manchester City’s perception of the financial fair play rule. They don’t meet at the moment, but they seemingly have a system which they believe will help them co-exist.
Also, we might want to believe that Test cricket is the pinnacle, but unless you convey it to the players who are watching the millions that T20 offers, you cannot expect them to aspire to play in the longer version.
If that means the player is not ambitious enough to play for India, there’s not a lot that can be done. Therefore, if we are keen to produce good talents for the future, provide them with incentives besides monetary benefits. Or invoke a few clauses that will help him understand the value of playing in domestic tournaments such as the Ranji Trophy.
People are visiting the stadiums to watch T20; maybe we need a team to market Test cricket. If a team has gone on to print the Twitter handle at the back of the players’ shirts - there’s an idea for Ranji Trophy cricket then — at least get the players’ names printed so that whatever little crowd that turns up recognises them. There’s no point in saying that Test cricket is the ultimate form of the sport if the kids wanting to play cricket don’t understand the meaning of the statement.
A few instances in the past week might have led people to think about a credibility crisis with regards to the IPL.A player from a franchisee misbehaving should not necessarily discredit the league. That’s still an internal matter of the franchisee. But it’s the identity crisis that needs greater attention — the IPL and its promise to deliver inclusive growth of Indian cricket.
Source: The IPL row: Credibility or identity crisis? - Analysis - DNA
We spend our primetime viewing focusing on ‘what happens next’ in the IPL. So much so, that Mary Kom’s qualification for the Olympics was mentioned in passing.
Money will always be the central theme here. Commercialisation is a product of capitalism. Finding romance in this age of commercialisation is a challenge to the league.
Therefore, there’s no point in arguing whether the Rs30 lakh ceiling should be done away with. It’s like upgrading your standard of living - the more you have, the more you want. If only, the stake holders can come clean on the payments made to individuals, it will help win the trust of those genuinely interested in the sport. And by everyone, I mean the owners, the players and the biggest of them all, the people.
The TV stings may or may not contain substance, but things have come to such a pass that every last ball boundary could be viewed with scepticism. Every moment that turns the match around might be seen with a pair of magnifying glasses. No sport deserves this.
Transparent sports governance, therefore, is the need of the hour. There is no one model that can straightaway be plucked and implemented in another system. Cultural, historical and economic context of a system have to be taken into consideration. Therefore, over a period of time, there will be teething issues that can sometimes eat into the credibility of the league.
The Italian Serie A has more than once been involved in match fixing scandals. Juventus were stripped of the title they won a few years back. They were shown the door. The club fought back and are the current Serie A champions. There is hardly a system that doesn’t have people bending rules; trustworthy systems are those that come stronger in the face of adversity.
The idea is to form a body that leaves no room for distrust. It should be able to cut through status and enforce rules.
If its idea was to spread the game of cricket across the world, it should also convey the meaning of the game. False leads will not help in retaining people for long. If people have been lured by a few extra bucks to let their team down, with sufficient proof, they should be asked not to worry about cricket. Discerning what’s right and what’s not for the purpose of development of sport is essential. Once we progress towards achieving that, we shall gain trust in the process.
Financially, for example, the removal of Rs 30 lakhs ceiling for uncapped players will help open negotiations for the players involved and perhaps rightly so. Every league has had its fair share of regulatory issues and almost every club would have witnessed a few heartburns. A Samir Nasri left Arsenal for Manchester City, according to him, in search of titles. I’m sure he would have thought of the decision to leave the Emirates a few times if his salary hadn’t been tripled.
Add to that, the role of agents and therefore inability of some of the top managers to influence players. It’s a phenomenon across the world. Despite the existence of the Premier League for the past two decades, Arsene Wenger’s perception of managing the books is very different to Manchester City’s perception of the financial fair play rule. They don’t meet at the moment, but they seemingly have a system which they believe will help them co-exist.
Also, we might want to believe that Test cricket is the pinnacle, but unless you convey it to the players who are watching the millions that T20 offers, you cannot expect them to aspire to play in the longer version.
If that means the player is not ambitious enough to play for India, there’s not a lot that can be done. Therefore, if we are keen to produce good talents for the future, provide them with incentives besides monetary benefits. Or invoke a few clauses that will help him understand the value of playing in domestic tournaments such as the Ranji Trophy.
People are visiting the stadiums to watch T20; maybe we need a team to market Test cricket. If a team has gone on to print the Twitter handle at the back of the players’ shirts - there’s an idea for Ranji Trophy cricket then — at least get the players’ names printed so that whatever little crowd that turns up recognises them. There’s no point in saying that Test cricket is the ultimate form of the sport if the kids wanting to play cricket don’t understand the meaning of the statement.
A few instances in the past week might have led people to think about a credibility crisis with regards to the IPL.A player from a franchisee misbehaving should not necessarily discredit the league. That’s still an internal matter of the franchisee. But it’s the identity crisis that needs greater attention — the IPL and its promise to deliver inclusive growth of Indian cricket.
Source: The IPL row: Credibility or identity crisis? - Analysis - DNA
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