Ray Ford’s Retrospectives: Put Off That WICB Election!
Lest We Forget. With Cricket West Indies Elections scheduled to be held this coming March,
2023, the following article written by Presidential aspirant Ray Ford almost a decade ago
in support of Clive Lloyd’s candidacy at that time now seems entirely relevant!
WHENEVER the opportunities
arise, our heads of Government
are always judicious to point out
the following: how important
West Indies cricket is to the Caribbean region; how
unifying it is; how it was one of our first collective
successes; how it put the Caribbean on the world
stage; how much joy it has brought to fans all over
the world; how we revere the names and value the
contributions of Sir Learie Constantine, Sir Frank
Worrell, Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Everton Weekes,
Sir Vivian Richards, and lastly, how much we cherish
these high-calibre individuals.
You needn’t be reminded that things we cherish
need our constant vigil, and at times may even need
our protection. When our physical stock of land is
under threat from or has been compromised by
the vicissitudes of catastrophic natural disaster, we
respond with collective alacrity and even welcome
assistance from beyond the region to arrest the
degradation, and to replenish and to restore.
Would it be, therefore, with all its attributes and
stated sentimentalities, too much to characterise
cricket as our intellectual property? No nation on
earth plays the game with such a patented flair, and
never have so many tears, across the boundaries
of nation states, been shed for the demise of one
of our flagship entities.
It is against this backdrop that I call on our heads of
government, not to ignore what might well happen
tomorrow, March 27, 2013. If you do, history will
neither smile on you, nor forgive you. Not when
you had the chance to rudder our great game back
on the right course and to pull this unquestionable Caribbean unifier
up from out of its downward spiral.
On principle, one may now be tempted to conveniently proffer
that the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is a private entity, and
should be allowed to operate as such, washed clean of Government
intervention. I will quickly, though, remind that no Caribbean territory,
not one, can say that they have not — at one stage or the other —
found it fit to persuade, chide, cry foul to, demand an explanation
from, protest, or question an action of the WICB, when it is deemed
required in the interest of fair play, peace and justice.
Now is the time, therefore, to collectively intervene, as a body whose
sole purpose is to lead the charge to a higher calling to correct a
broken structure. The entire network of Caribbean people must feel
interconnected and have a stake in keeping the game of cricket in
good order.
I ask that our heads of state, as a body, not only
consider, but act decisively to enable a halt to the
March 27 elections. This will allow a rethink on how
to re-fashion West Indies cricket before another
sordid page is added to its history.
Honourable heads of Government, when it
was released on the respected Internet site
ESPNcricinfo.com that one Mr Clive Lloyd had not
garnered the second nomination needed for him
to be considered for the office of president of the
WICB, the outpouring of comments was global,
profound in amazement, shock and sympathy.
Had the Caribbean region not learnt from
unceremoniously dismissing one of their own?
History books are filled with tear-soaked pages of
how, when confronted by the proverbial forks in
the road, on almost every occasion, we took the
wrong turns.
Luckily for us, Mr CLR James was successful in his
campaign to get the right man, Sir Frank Worrell,
to be appointed captain of the West Indies team
to Australia in 1960-61. And it was on that tour
that Sir Frank distinguished himself as a leader, a
statesman, a diplomat, a unifier, and a globally
recognised figure among cricketing nations.
And now, we are rapidly approaching another
fork in the road — the election of a new president
for the WICB. The patient is being strapped to
its gurney and its veins are being prepared to be
injected with either one of two administrations
that the Caribbean people clearly do not want.
Dr Hunte’s time in office has not been stellar.
And, of Mr Wycliffe Cameron, little or nothing is
known, except for the fact that he understudied
Dr Hunte. The manifestos of both gentlemen
would have been better received if they had placed
more importance on restoring the quality of our
performance at the Test level and using the sport
to help build character among our young people.
Instead, the challenger brazenly states: “My focus will be
to lead a team to refocus cricket’s attention on being the
highest income earner for sport in the region.”
West Indies cricket, under the Hunte-Cameron regime, has
been fraught with too many missteps, as well-intentioned as
they might have been. From flirting with Mr Allen Stanford,
to marginalising and effectively muzzling the voice of the
Caribbean people during what should have been in 2007
their Cricket World Cup. Not to mention their using T20
cricket to mark our accomplishments, while knowing well
that it is by our success in Test cricket that our cricketing
success is rightfully indexed.
Honourable heads of Government, do not act on my word alone. Listen to two of our most respected, trusted and venerable voices — those of the doyen cricket journalist Mr Tony Cozier, and the level-headed social commentator Mr Rickey Singh. In essence, the former has, in his wisdom, chosen not to endorse either of the two legitimate candidates for the office in question. And the latter is lamenting the exclusion of Mr Clive Hubert Lloyd — a studied disciple and exquisite practitioner of the Sir Frank Worrell doctrine of progress for us, and fair play with others.
I encourage our dear leaders to do the right thing and somehow, some way, ensure that Mr Clive Lloyd — the people’s candidate — is in the process. Postponing the execution of West Indies cricket, scheduled for tomorrow, would be a good first step.