NEW DELHI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) appears to be content with the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) anti doping measures, even as the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) presses for the cricket body’s adherence to its accredited Indian arm – the National Anti Doping Agency.
Although the ICC has been a signatory to the WADA code since July 2006, BCCI has steadfastly refused to follow WADA rules. The Indian cricket governing body told the Hindustan Times in the wake of the current debate raging over the issue that its “anti-doping policy is based on the ICC template code”.
All good of course, except that said “ICC template code” is a different one for the BCCI from the one the other national cricket boards follow, as a report by Scroll.in reveals.
It begins with the agency that is conducting the doping tests in each ICC-affilialated country. While the BCCI has engaged a private agency to conduct anti doping tests on its member players, other cricket boards come under the ambit of the national anti-doping organizations of their respective countries.
The amended rules regarding rights of appeal by cricketers to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in the ICC anti-doping code, which became effective from 15 December 2016, is revealing.
Scroll accessed the relevant portion of ICC’s amended rule regarding appeal to CAS, which reads as follows:
“13.2.2 Persons Entitled to Appeal
“In cases under Article 13.2.1, the following parties shall have the right to appeal to CAS: (a) the Player or other Person who is the subject of the decision being appealed; (b) the other party to the case in which the decision was rendered; (c) the ICC; (d) subject to Article 13.2.3 below, the National Anti-Doping Organization of the Person’s country of residence or countries where the Person is a national or license holder; (e) any other Anti-Doping Organisation under whose rules a sanction could have been imposed; and (f) Wada.
“13.2.3 Notwithstanding (emphasis ours) Article 13.2.2(d), the Board of Control for Cricket in India (the National Cricket Federation for the territory of India) does not recognise the authority or jurisdiction of the National Anti-Doping Organisation for India. Therefore, the right of appeal for National Anti-Doping Organizations under Article 13.2.2(d) shall not be available to the National Anti-Doping Organisation in India in respect of decisions taken pursuant to the ICC Code.”
The Scroll report further recounts how BCCI has been resisting being covered by the NADA since its inception in 2009, and continues to do so.
The BCCI has been reluctant to adhere to WADA/NADA guidelines, with Indian cricketers finding the “whereabout” clause in the WADA code particularly irksome. According to ICC’s anti-doping code that is applicable to rest of the cricketing world (again emphasis ours), it is necessary to conduct “out-of-competition testing” where the player selected for testing gets no advance notice of the test. And for this to be possible, certain information is required about the whereabouts of the player when he/she is out-of-competition.
While the ICC told HT that it has not received any letter from either WADA or NADA questioning BCCI’s anti-doping policy, it maintained that “It is mandatory for the BCCI to adopt the ICC template code for national federations, which itself is based on the ICC’s WADA compliant Code.”
As things stand, even as WADA says it is following up the matter with the ICC, it appears the ICC has long allowed, and continues to allow, the BCCI to get away with its own anti doping measures.
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