THE GOVERNANCE of sport and the role of the governments are oftentimes far more complex than any agency sitting in some distant part of the world can clearly understand. So while the ICC has just issued an order to its member boards to stay away from government interference, the FIH offers a better model on how to ensure autonomy, through the government.
The International Cricket Council has all on a sudden woken up to the woes and ills of ‘government interference’ in member boards in various countries. Sounds nice, tastes fine, smells terrific, a cricketing culinary marvel, but in a void.
To start with, it is rather late in the day, as the International Olympic Committee has been saying this forever. There is no harm in one more body saying this one more time. But why has the ICC decided to speak now and not earlier? Because the orders from the Indian sports ministry for BCCI to register has just come, and what is the ICC but some letters changed here and there from BCCI, as many have been saying, including, now, foreign players across the world.
Interestingly, the ICC says that the boards have to implement this within two years, first, and then another two years, so if at all a system such as this is put in place, it will be 2015 before that happens. Haroon Lorgat, ICC CEO gives a pretty lame excuse about this deferred commandment: the issue is complex. But he never deigns to state what these complexities are.
First of all, what is government interference? Trying to ensure transparency, democracy, rule of law, accountability, etc, either through setting Guidelines, as India had done, or enacting a law, as India will do, cannot amount to ‘interference’.
There are any number of examples that cry out for government ‘interference’ to help develop sport. For instance in golf. All the private golf courses (meaning not Army-controlled) in India are mostly on public land leased out to the clubs. These clubs have restricted the entry of golfers who are non-members, and membership fees are humungous, to take care of the lavish lifestyle expenses once rich golfers enter the clubs.
Small-time players, but genuine players, caddy boys, who form a good bulk of golfers today in India, are kept out. So how does the sport of golf grow? The government has been sending word to the clubs at various levels, mostly in conversations, that they should look into this. But the clubs won’t. Is this interference?
By its very nature, sport is for all. It has to be. First of all it is health, culture, friendship, sporting spirit and gentlemanliness that any sport is geared towards. Competitions, money, etc, come much later. If such is the basic premise of sport, keeping clubs restricted to some rich cats is not democracy, and it is he government’s job to ensure democracy.
The arrogance of BCCI stems, no doubt, from its affluence. But financial independence does not entitle anyone to defy democracy or accountability. The properties BCCI use – the grounds, have all been developed by the government. Would the BCCI create its own stadia then? On what land? Will it buy land now and start developing them, and till then hold back cricketing activities?
A very good stand has been taken by the Asian Football Confederation in this regard. Among the conditionalities for any professional football club to play in foreign tournaments is that they must own their home stadia. This is a step that would take the clubs away, at least a few steps, from the possibility of government interference. But still, issues of fair and free elections would remain, and so would accountability.
The accounts of any entity in this country, or any country, have to be audited. If the audit is not done, or if it is done in a manner that the government is not satisfied with, then it can call for proper audit. The BCCII cannot stay above the laws governing the law in this regard too.
But ICC, more pertinently, does not understand how ‘interference takes place in countries such as ours. For instance, take the Cycling Federation of India. For so many years, it was run by a top politician, SS Dhindsa, who is a member of the Upper House of Parliament. In April this year, he retired. In June, his son, PS Dhindsa, who is the public works minister of Punjab state has taken over from the father.
When the head of a sports federation is the minister, can government interface stay far behind? After all, he will get the CFI the money, and if he does not, then will that be government interference? If he wants some persons out of the federation, will that not be government interference, since he draws his clout from being a minister? The ICC statement thus seems incongruous, or it does not understand the complexities of sports organizations in the country.
The IOC has stated, and it could not have stated otherwise, that it would respect the law of any country. It has not answered the Indian Sports Ministry’s basic question: If France, the US and many other countries can have laws that regulate sport in their country, form the Olympic Association of the nation and allow it to select the national teams, why can’t India do so?
Likewise, the new sports law that is coming up cannot be challenged by anyone from outside the country, definitely not a private organization like the ICC or IOC. And when the law comes, by the principles of natural justice, it will be applicable to all.
The international organisations that claim to promote sport, uphold Olympianism and so forth, function from a huge distance. They do not engage with the governments at a mutual level.
The FIH is an exception. It has an issue in India with the recognition of the hockey governing body. The rival claimants, Indian Hockey Federation and FIH recognised Hockey India have been warring for long now. But unlike the IOC, the FIH did not issue any diktat to the government.
FIH president Leandro Negre has in the past few months come a surprising number of times to India, and engaged with the officials dealing with the issue. He has seen the good intentions of the government in ‘removing a problem’, and not ‘solving it’, as an official told us. The difference being a ‘solution’ is impermanent, and a ‘removal’ just ensures that the problem is not there, so in no point of it time will it raise its ugly head once again. FIH is essentially ensuring long-term autonomy as well as fruitful functioning through the government.
SportzPower has been watching from very close quarters what has been happening here in hockey. Forget not that the Sports Minister had stated that unless both the partied accepted its formula two weeks ago, it would take its own decision. Then IHF sent a grumbling letter saying everything would be fine if only its name would be retained as the name of the federation, and not HI.
The minister gave them time, again, till last Tuesday. It would be safe to conclude that after that date, the ministry would take its stand? Do not forget that the ministry knows that the Supreme Court is demanding an answer. But it has assured the court that it is working on removing the creases.
And now the government is totally silent. Has it capitulated? No. It is still trying to ensure a ‘removal’ of the problem for a ‘solution’ which means an unilateral declaration of HI as the governing body would never finally clear the field of play for the growth of hockey.
The government has demanded to know, in private conversation, what these sporting federations have been doing for the last 60 years.
Yes, the country is demanding an answer. The Volleyball Federation of India recently concluded an independent league. It did not find a title sponsor, but managed to stage a successful event. This showcasing of a new league in a non-cricket sport will definitely bring the sponsors closer to them.
The sporting federations must either follow such laudable attempts, or must answer t the nation. And the government is the highest expression of a common public will.
To reiterate, the ICC has started issuing this high sounding diktat too late. After all, the issues of government control in Pakistan and Sri Lanka are not new. But the ICC has now been forced to say all this because it is not PCB or SLCB that is are under threat, but it is BCCI that is feeling the heat. And Pakistan and Sri Lanka, much weaker players in the cricketing world, have been made examples of duer to concerns over what might happen to India, or more pertinently to BCCI.
The sports law is coming, make no mistake. So will the ICC act? Do try, Mr Lorgat, or whoever follows you in the chair in 2015!
