THE FEDERATION OF INTERNATIONAL Cricketers’ Associations, which represents the interests of players around the world with the exception of Indian men and women, is reportedly seeking commercial rights protections for their members from the International Cricket Council in third party commercial deals with ICC partners. And if push comes to shove, FICA could well take the legal route to obtain redress.
So why will the “men and women in Blue” have zero role play here? It bears noting that the Board of Control for Cricket in India has consistently rode roughshod over players’ rights and it was only last July that the BCCI gave a fig-leaf nod to the matter when it formally recognised the Indian Cricketers’ Association. The fact that the “momentous” decision got little attention except in the Indian media should come as no surprise seeing as the ICA is made up of retired cricketers and is nothing more than a pensioners body beholden to the monopolistic board for whatever handouts it chooses to throw the way of the association.
Coming back to FICA, ESPNcricinfo reports that the body has written to the ICC management, expressing an intention to take a range of issues around the players’ commercial rights into the grievance process set out in the terms for squads participating in global events. This would be a precursor to a formal legal dispute, after talks between the parties in recent months failed to get close to a resolution of the issue.
“We are in the process of challenging the unauthorised use of player images / attributes / content by the ICC and its commercial partners, including in: a fantasy cricket game, individual player content used by an ICC sponsor, and a documentary featuring players and individual player content,” the website quotes Tom Moffat, FICA’s chief executive, as having written to the players. “This follows a similar issue with trading cards in 2017.
As per ESPNcricinfo, Moffat further wrote: “These types of products are important in promoting the game, but are also commercially valuable to the ICC and their partners largely because your attributes, appearances, data and content are used in them. We believe players should be getting a fair share of these arrangements, and that the ICC were required to negotiate terms of access to, and use of, players with FICA. This is provided for in the Squad Terms you sign prior to competing in ICC Events.
“The ICC have previously argued that because players will receive prize money for performances in future ICC events, that covers these sorts of commercial products. Clearly that is unfair, and was not the intended basis of the Squad Terms or global arrangements for players. Taking a legal path is not our desired approach and we have tried to resolve these issues with the ICC over a number of months to ensure players are treated fairly. We have unfortunately been unsuccessful given the way the ICC continue to approach you / FICA on these issues.”
Moffat also revealed that senior men and women cricketers from many countries have offered their help so that the FICA can lodge an official complain on behalf of the players. He thanked those cricketers and said protecting commercial rights of them together will be their “major focus” going forward even though the ICC continues to remain silent regarding the matter. Moffat said that the FICA will be welcoming any kind of queries or advices from players as they work through the processes.
