"ICC's Empty Threats Not Amusing"

By Lalit Modi
October 11 2006

Lalit Modi, BCCI's vice-president, responds to ICC's threat to take away the 2011 World Cup from India unless BCCI signs a patently unfair MPA (Members Participation Agreement) which puts India at a disadvantage despite cricket's global sponsors being primarily Indian.

The International Cricket Council's dadagiri is not restricted to the Champions Trophy. It seems to be guided by the dubious norms set by Jagmohan Dalmiya, at least for selling the media rights and also the unrelenting Members Participation Agreement (MPA) for the next eight years.

There is a mysterious secrecy about the goings-on at its Dubai headquarters. Both the rights issue and the MPA are inter-linked, as far as we are concerned.

Indian cricket has a greater stake in them than others and that's why we took some time to go through the fine print in both documents. Those who are not conversant with the working of some of the ICC functionaries must be wondering what this fuss all about.

Even some media persons are puzzled by this constant conflict over clauses. I don't blame them because the issues involved are so complex that we ourselves have not been able to grasp the ICC's hidden agenda. We have to read between the lines.

We are certainly not trying to show the world our clout or arm-twist the ICC into coming around to our viewpoint. We are only making a legitimate claim about the projected losses if we go ahead with the MPA in its current form.

We want to protect the BCCI and the players from falling into an abyss. We are only pointing out some inherent defects in the document as it covers two World Cups, the one to be held by Asia in 2011 and the other one in Australia and New Zealand.

Cricket Australia also had their apprehensions about certain clauses which the ICC went out of its way to resolve. But when it came to India its tone and tenor changed, and threats have followed too.

The ICC's commercial department is adopting the very tactics that Mr Dalmiya used when he had to sell the Indian media rights. He wanted to keep certain individuals and agencies out of the bidding arena by restricting bids to broadcasters with production units.

Actually, it was only to keep out a couple of people who had challenged his whimsical ideas. Thus, the entire process of awarding the rights got delayed and the BCCI lost money.

The ICC now says the Indian board can bid for the ICC rights provided the ICC Development International, which is its marketing arm, rescinds its decision to restrict the bids to broadcasters only when it meets in Mumbai on Nov 3 and 4.

It looks as if the MPA was framed only to tie our hands behind our backs, and then ask us to host the 2011 World Cup! Let me also make it clear that India was voted to host the 2011 World Cup by the member-nations and not by any individual.

So, nobody should threaten anyone of taking away something that has been decided upon by an overwhelming majority of the ICC members. Why talk of only media rights and MPA, there is now a strong feeling among quite a few members that the entire structure of the ICC needs overhauling.

It's time we had a chief executive who comes from Afro-Asia, someone who understands the problems of a majority of ICC members and doesn't heed just the affluent alone.

For years the silent majority suffered because two countries had the veto power that shut out all reasoning. We were left voiceless till 1983 when NKP Salve vowed to bring them to heel by snatching the World Cup, by winning and then hosting it.

It is being said that the new MPA is more flexible than the 2003 one, when the players rose in revolt. That's a weak defence because three years ago, the middlemen held sway and both the bodies and players had no hope in hell to do anything.

It's time people stopped browbeating India with threats they jolly well know they cannot carry out.

[Re-published with permission from IndiaTimes Cricket.]