I think I have written enough on this but here is a roundup of Cricinfo’s coverage of the ICC rejection of John Howard. Make sure you check out the quotes!
“The mess is not about politics, or principle, or anything but power. The worst elements at the ICC were scared of Howard and found a reason to stop him before he became strong.” – Peter Roebuck
Tags: cricket, ICC, John Howard
I referenced Gideon Haigh’s excellent piece about the issues around John Howard’s nomination as Vice President of the ICC here, and he has written a scathing follow up piece which you can read here. I especially liked his conclusion.
Let’s give Bvute some credit. While others cower, he is prepared to stand by his cock-eyed thinking. But if his remarks can be taken as indicative of attitudes at ICC, then its members have given up trying to be FIFA, a body acting in the international interests of its sport, and are content to be a tenth-rate United Nations, all piss, wind and parish-pump politics. Can it get worse? I’m sure ICC is up to the challenge.
Watch the comments section after his article for the knee jerk reactions and name calling, it should be very entertaining.
At least Cricket Australia and Howard are showing some balls.
Tags: Cricket Australia, Gideon Haigh, ICC, John Howard
What a farce. As usual, power politics and petty self interest have won the day. I liked this quote from Malcolm Speed (yes, the same Malcolm Speed who was sent on “gardening leave” because he ruffled too many feathers in the wake of Pakistan’s forfeiture of a Test).
“Howard has been rejected because his appointment would provide ICC with strong leadership that would thwart the ambitions of several current administrators to downgrade and devalue the role of the ICC,” Speed wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald.
“Howard would have stood in their path. The role requires strength of character – a leader, diplomat, statesman and politician. The ICC board is as political as any political party. The countries that voted him down want a compliant figurehead who will do their bidding.”
I think Australia should really ruffle some feathers and nominate Andrew Symonds for the post, but in all seriousness, if they don’t decide to boycott the process (which they should) they could do much worse than Mark Taylor. He has proved the pick of the former captains in his post cricket career. He would bring a great cricket brain and a love of the game, and the BCCI certainly couldn’t criticise his cricketing credentials!
There will no doubt be lots of coverage of this on Cricinfo, and you can already read Sambit Bal’s editorial here, but something tells me the fallout of from this isn’t over, not by a long shot.
Tags: BCCI, cricket, ICC, John Howard, Malcolm Speed
Those of you follow cricket news would be aware that there is currently a furious debate going on about John Howard‘s nomination as the new vice-president of the ICC. To be honest, I wasn’t surprised that it raised the ire of certain groups in world cricket, but it still makes me angry.
Gideon Haigh, whom I consider the greatest living cricket writer by a long distance, has written a brilliant article for Cricinfo which really says it better than I ever could.
I get sick of the casualness with which the word racist is bandied around. When someone’s default defense or attack against things that they don’t agree with is to accuse the other side of racism, it cheapens the meaning of the word.
I certainly didn’t approve of everything John Howard did as Prime Minister but I never thought he was a racist. I remember watching Meet the Press when a journalist insinuated that Howard would care more about children who had died when a boatload of asylum seekers sank had they been white British children. I have never seen Howard look more furious, I thought he was going to have a stroke. If he was feigning that he was in the wrong career!
The only thing I would add is that I think what will make Howard a great president for the ICC when the time comes is what was his greatest strength and greatest weakness as Prime Minister. Howard, no matter what else you might say about him, was always willing to do what he thought the right thing was regardless of public opinion or popularity, to make the hard decisions rather than just obey the spin doctors. From gun control to the War in Iraq he never shirked from pursuing the course of action he believed in. He was one of the few people brave enough to condemn Mugabe at CHOGM, getting called a racist for his pains. It’s funny that cricket led the way in sanctioning South Africa during apartheid, but was so reluctant to do the same to Zimbabwe. A cynic might think it had something to do with race, but of course it wasn’t. Right.
If he becomes head of the ICC, Howard will not pander to special interest groups or respect the powerful cliques that have formed. Cricket is a source of riches and power for certain groups and they have no desire to see things change. Howard will not respect the status quo, he will do what he thinks is right for the game he loves (and there is no doubt he loves it) regardless of who it upsets or how many rackets it disturbs. What has he got to lose? Once you’ve run a nation what is the ICC? There are powerful groups and individuals who know that someone like Howard leading the ICC is a threat to their cosy arrangements. Maybe that is what they are scared of.
Tags: cricket, Gideon Haigh, ICC, John Howard, Mugabe, racism
One of the selling points my wife used to convince me to get Foxtel was that I would be able to watch a whole lot more cricket. In the end I caved, like the good husband I am, and she was right. Last night I got to watch Ireland take on Australia, and it was well worth watching. While in the end Ireland fell short, they certainly gave Australia a scare. I find it hard to believe that Ireland don’t deserve to be knocking on the Full Member door.
They are a great argument for the contention that the quickest way a team can increase its competitiveness is by working hard on its fielding. They have a sponsor that is obviously both passionate about cricket and happy with the returns on their investment and most importantly they have a strong fan base and kids getting into the game. It was exciting to see how full the ground was, which leads me onto my main point. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Australia, BCCI, cricinfo, ICC, Ireland, ODI, Twenty20
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