Gideon Haigh faces the heat on cricinfo on latest "article"

[achilles]

"Article" is a decent way to describe Gideon Haigh rant. Have a read and make a point to go through the comments-

Cricket's fig leaf of democracy "I'm not worried because it's a democratic organisation," said Sharad Pawar, the International Cricket Council's new president, after last week's executive board meeting in Singapore. The mystery is which organisation he was talking about. Amnesty International? The Boy Scout Movement? It certainly can't have been the ICC. On the other hand, there seem to be others claiming in the aftermath of Howard's thwarting to have glimpsed democracy in action, six out of 10 constituting a majority. They prove only that they can count; otherwise they demonstrate a decidedly loose grasp of how democracy operates. People in a room having a vote is not democracy. It depends on who they are, how they got there, and how faithfully they follow the rules of their organisation. Not even lots of people voting freely does a democracy make. Lots of people voted freely in South Africa in the days of apartheid; many more did not. Lots of people voted in Zimbabwe in 2008; guns spoke louder. To be legitimate, democracy depends on several preconditions. One is an open and transparent election process. Can the ICC executive board boast of this? So far there has been neither a vote nor even a discussion, merely a letter, giving no reason for the opposition to Howard, or the last-minute changes of heart of several countries. To be legitimate, too, those making decisions require legitimacy themselves. And here, I think, it becomes quite interesting. By disputing John Howard's credentials to be ICC vice-president, the naysayers turn attention on their own credentials - and, to be fair, on those of the prosayers too. The executive board of the ICC is not elected. Individuals are appointed by the boards of control that are its members. How are they appointed? It varies. There are chairmen. There are presidents. There are chief executives. Some have been selected by constituent associations, some by governments; the default route into the BCCI, for instance, is to become the chief minister of a state. Easy really. All you have to do is join a political party, suck up to the right people and knife the rest for 20 years or so - presto, you're a cricket administrator. How, meanwhile, did Ijaz Butt get the job of being chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board? Myself, I think he was appointed to make him feel better about being Ijaz Butt. Someone in authority probably considered him a "safe pair of hands". Yep, just as smooth and steady as Kamran Akmal's. More

128 comments on this and counting. Majority think Haigh's article smacks of bias. Surely he's bitten off more than he can chew. What are your views, ICF? Update- Sambit Bal has written a wonderful piece, more on the "Harsha Bhogle-like neutral" lines. Have a read -

Stop canonising Howard Enough has been said - including in this column - about the manner in which the Asian and African boards stopped John Howard from assuming the vice-presidency of the ICC. Some members, either publicly or through official channels, opposed Howard's candidature well in advance, but the role of some others has seemed sly and underhand. Cricket Australia's indignation at what they see as betrayal by some perceived allies, primarily the Indian board, is understandable. But what's beginning to grate is an appalling lack of understanding of the nuances of the issue among the leading voices in the Australian media and their cricket fraternity as a whole. It is as if they lack either the inclination or the capacity, or both, to view the issue with a broader lens. Peter Roebuck, who possesses a world view, has touched on the importance of sensitivity. Indeed, it's almost as important as integrity, he wrote. Otherwise the tone has been derisive, shrill and wholly oblivious to sentiment in parts of the world that view Howard as a poor choice for a global job. Even more unfathomable is how Australian commentators have suddenly become precious about Howard's eminence. He has been variously held up as a potential saviour of the ICC; a seasoned diplomat who'd bring peace and unity to the global game; a crusader for justice and fair play, who'd root out corrupt practices from the ICC; and a champion of Test cricket, who'd restore its dignity and rightful place in the world. More

I think its significant to see someone like Bal, who is an extremely vocal critic of the BCCI, frustrated by this lack of understanding from the Aussie writers and media. This issue has snowballed into something so huge that it got even the great Bal upset. Sure not a good thing to do.

[saneindian]

He's acting as the unofficial spokesperson of Howard and co!! Most of his articles are biased and written with the sole objective of maligning the BCCI and Indian cricket. Maybe CI is forcing him to write more such pathetic articles to attract more traffic from its biggest market India especially when our national side is having a 3-4 week long break right now.

[achilles]

He's acting as the unofficial spokesperson of Howard and co!! Most of his articles are biased and written with the sole objective of maligning the BCCI and Indian cricket. Maybe CI is forcing him to write more such pathetic articles to attract more traffic from its biggest market India especially when our national side is having a 3-4 week long break right now.

The bigger question is- Does he have the courage to apologize to the very people that earn him his bread-n-butter? Its deplorable to see a website like CI, which doesn't publish comments with a hint of "discord", publish a rant like this.

[HowardRoark]

Coming from Haigh, it wasn't a surprise really...He has been on an whining spree since the IPL was found and doesn't look like he will stop any time soon his bashing of BCCI/IPL/India as the reason for all problems around the world. But this time, CI readers from asia and africa have been mercilessly flogging him right and left..absolutely lovin it...

[Guest Gunner]

Its a perfectly valid article since its the truth.

[Guest BossBhai]

-- Removed on request of the user --

[Gunner_Mania]

Its a perfectly valid article since its the truth.

I guess the question most people are raising is would Mr Haigh have pursued this agenda and stated this truth had Mr Howard been elected succesffuly.

[Zap_Brannigan]

"some by governments; the default route into the BCCI, for instance, is to become the chief minister of a state. Easy really. All you have to do is join a political party, suck up to the right people and knife the rest for 20 years or so - presto, you're a cricket administrator." Ironic isnt it..the stupid writer talks about getting into BCCI by becoming a Chief minister while defending Hoard who is doing the same goddamn thing. He is trying to get into ICC by his credentials as a Prime minster..As opposed to "suck up to the right people and knife the rest for 20 years", to get into ICC, i suppose its suck up to the right people and knife the rest for 30 years.

[Tapioca]

"some by governments; the default route into the BCCI, for instance, is to become the chief minister of a state. Easy really. All you have to do is join a political party, suck up to the right people and knife the rest for 20 years or so - presto, you're a cricket administrator." Ironic isnt it..the stupid writer talks about getting into BCCI by becoming a Chief minister while defending Hoard who is doing the same goddamn thing. He is trying to get into ICC by his credentials as a Prime minster..As opposed to "suck up to the right people and knife the rest for 20 years", to get into ICC, i suppose its suck up to the right people and knife the rest for 30 years.

Zap : You have to read it with the previous paragraph. He says it in the context of people questioning Howard's cricketing credentials, that our so-called cricket admins are no better.

[Zap_Brannigan]

Zap : You have to read it with the previous paragraph. He says it in the context of people questioning Howard's cricketing credentials' date=' that our so-called cricket admins are no better.[/quote'] Our admins may be incompetent or corrupt but they did their due diligence before running for these spots. With BCCI, you have to start at the bottom and work your way up with minimum requirements placed for these spots. Pawar started in state or regional cricket, then national and now the ICC. So its not as easy as kissing ass as this guy makes it out to be. Infact the only person without proper credentials here is Howard. Besides, the entire episode is filled with hypocrisy. Just till the last decade, Aus and Eng had veto powers and colluded among themselves to make everything better for themselves. Have the new powerhouse did anything as bad as changing rules to make their teams win, like how England changed the rules to limit number of fielders on the legside to thwart India's spinners? Have the new powers played much more tests and much more at home(and thus earn more money) than the rest of the test nations? Did the new powers ever change rules to obstruct an elected official from taking his post like how they did it when Dalmiya won. Add to this that Aus board rejected a perfect candidate from NZ for no good reason and went with howard in a closed process but expects ICC to have a more open process now that their candidate is rejected. Finally, what's with everyone blaming BCCI for this? SA,Zim and SL were board with staunch opposition towards Howard and technically they needed just 1 more to reject howard, which BCCI decide to do anyway to side with SA and SL. Why is BCCI blamed for convincing BCB, PCB and WICB ?

[yoda]

Amazing to see how Indians resent the BCCI having any clout, if at all. More case of self-loathing or self-denigration?

[Karan114]

Well argued piece by Sambit Bal, countering Haigh and the Australian media: http://www.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/465991.html

[achilles]

"some by governments; the default route into the BCCI, for instance, is to become the chief minister of a state. Easy really. All you have to do is join a political party, suck up to the right people and knife the rest for 20 years or so - presto, you're a cricket administrator." Ironic isnt it..the stupid writer talks about getting into BCCI by becoming a Chief minister while defending Hoard who is doing the same goddamn thing. He is trying to get into ICC by his credentials as a Prime minster..As opposed to "suck up to the right people and knife the rest for 20 years", to get into ICC, i suppose its suck up to the right people and knife the rest for 30 years.

Gideon's been facing the heat on Times Now as well, where Arnab takes him apart. Gideon was pretty much calling for it. And the dig at the "comments section" is disgraceful. Smacks of a superiority complex. I was shocked that CricInfo actually allowed a rubbish article like this, which would until a few years back, be a headline story in the famed Aussie Media.

Our admins may be incompetent or corrupt but they did their due diligence before running for these spots. With BCCI, you have to start at the bottom and work your way up with minimum requirements placed for these spots. Pawar started in state or regional cricket, then national and now the ICC. So its not as easy as kissing ass as this guy makes it out to be. Infact the only person without proper credentials here is Howard. Besides, the entire episode is filled with hypocrisy. Just till the last decade, Aus and Eng had veto powers and colluded among themselves to make everything better for themselves. Have the new powerhouse did anything as bad as changing rules to make their teams win, like how England changed the rules to limit number of fielders on the legside to thwart India's spinners? Have the new powers played much more tests and much more at home(and thus earn more money) than the rest of the test nations? Did the new powers ever change rules to obstruct an elected official from taking his post like how they did it when Dalmiya won. Add to this that Aus board rejected a perfect candidate from NZ for no good reason and went with howard in a closed process but expects ICC to have a more open process now that their candidate is rejected. Finally, what's with everyone blaming BCCI for this? SA,Zim and SL were board with staunch opposition towards Howard and technically they needed just 1 more to reject howard, which BCCI decide to do anyway to side with SA and SL. Why is BCCI blamed for convincing BCB, PCB and WICB ?

Yes, exactly. Why doesn't Gideon and his friends (Speed in particular) give us "reasons for rejecting Anderson"? BCCI and Indian writers didn't cry foul when Dalmiya was obstructed. So isn't this just karma coming back to the Aussies? Its getting too much now. Gideon has lost the reputation he had in the cricket world by trying to be good to one country, at the cost of 7 !

[King Tendulkar]

Amazing to see how Indians resent the BCCI having any clout' date=' if at all. More case of self-loathing or self-denigration?[/quote'] True Personally I love the power we have:--D

[DomainK]

The reactions to Howard's exit have been OTT. The suggestions of defection are unbelievable. It's a democratic board and the members exercised their rights. The threat of defection from Australia and England are criminal, an attempt at blackmail a threat to the democratic process. They have no business whatsoever forcing their opinions and candidates on the ICC. They dont own ICC.

[yoda]

If a nominee of a board can't be rejected by other boards at all, then why even allow for such a process? And also, if 7 members don't like a guy, is there a point in having him be the future president of the ICC?

[achilles]

If a nominee of a board can't be rejected by other boards at all' date=' then why even allow for such a process? And also, if 7 members don't like a guy, is there a point in having him be the future president of the ICC?[/quote'] No. Unfortunately, CA is doing the exact opposite of what it had advised BCCI to do - "Behave More Responsibly". Hypocrisy this.

[saneindian]

If ECB, CA and NZCB are so hurt by BCCI's high handedness, why don't they announce a complete boycott of Champions League and IPL?

[achilles]

If ECB' date=' CA and NZCB are so hurt by BCCI's high handedness, why don't they announce a complete boycott of Champions League and IPL?[/quote'] They won't. Monies, bawa :idea:

[Gunner_Mania]

^ The boards would love to, but would the players agree:)