By Tony McWatt
Missing In Action (MIA) is a military term used to describe a soldier’s disappearance, either from within the ranks or worse from the actual field of battle. It’s a term that now readily comes to mind in regards to the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), the representative union body for the Caribbean regions’ cricketers, given its very conspicuous absence from the public domain within recent months.
Earlier this year, in March 2021 to be exact, WIPA had publicly announced its launching of a Mentorship Initiative. In expressing WIPA’s strong belief “that the rich knowledge and wealth of experience that endures in West Indies cricket is crucial to the development of our present and future cricketers,” the Release stated that the mentorship Initiative “will connect former West Indies cricketers with current players with the aim to assist in empowering players to unlock their full potential on and off the field, a process that will be open to all West Indies players.”
The release also indicated WIPA’s intention to “play an active role in coordinating the exchanges between former and current players, being mindful of the unique experiences and skill sets of mentors.” Former West Indies’ Men’s and Women’s captains Clive Lloyd and Melissa Aguilleira, as well as Ian Bishop and Jimmy Adams were identified as the first Mentors to have agreed to participate in the initiative.
Individually and collectively we were both excited by the announcement of the initiative for several reasons. Not the least of those was that it was actually an idea that we that discussed several times ourselves as being much needed. Long before WIPA’s announcement of its intentions to make it a reality. Given the ongoing struggles of some of the West Indies’ Test cricketers to fully realize their obvious potential in terms of talent, to us it seemed that the announcement of the Initiative couldn’t have been any more timely.
In the now six plus months that have passed since WIPA’s public announcement of its Mentorship Initiative, however, there has been absolutely no evidence of any further activity towards its actual implementation. At least not in the public’s domain.
In the interim, this year’s recently concluded Caribbean Premier League (CPL) has also revealed some very excitingly talented, young up and coming, West Indies cricketers. Their individual and collective further development would undoubtedly benefit from the advice and guidance that could be provided by means of the WIPA’s Mentorship Initiative.
As a means of ascertaining as to whether there had been any “behind the scenes “ activity in relation to the Initiative, we conducted a mini poll among some former, indisputably, legendary West Indies players. Those who in anyone’s book would automatically qualify as Mentors for any such initiative.
Colin Croft, Jeffrey Dujon, Lance Gibbs, Michael Holding, Deryck Murray and Sir Andy Roberts were those with who were able to establish contact, either directly or indirectly, with our inquiry as to whether anyone from WIPA had been in contact with them in regards to being involved with the initiative as a Mentor. Of the foregoing Colin Croft was only person who indicated that he had in fact been contacted, by WIPA’s President Wavell Hinds about three months ago. Again, none of the others have to date ever received any such outreach from anyone representing WIPA.
Guided by our desire to provide an objective report on this seemingly now somewhat stagnant initiative, we also contacted WIPA’s Secretary Wayne Lewis, eventually by means of a somewhat extended telephone conversation. Mr. Lewis indicated that he was not in any position to offer any information about the initiative as the control over its implementation had been wrested wholly and solely in the hands of Wavell Hinds as WIPA’s President and CEO.
Mr. Lewis was quick to suggest, however, that the WIPA’s noticeable lack of public visibility within the past few months was merely a continuation of a deliberate decision the Association had made following Wavell Hinds’ assumption of its Presidential duties. One of Hinds’ very first actions in his role, initially as acting President before his subsequent official election to the post, was for WIPA’s interactions with Cricket West Indies on behalf of its members to be conducted behind closed doors and distinctly outside of the public’s eye.
Lewis described the previous, often publicly played out, interactions between the respective Presidents of WIPA and Cricket West Indies, the belligerent West Indies and Trinidadian Ex- player President Didnath Ramnarine on the part of the former and Jamaica’s Dave Cameron as the latter, as having been distinctly caustic. According to Lewis, since Hinds’ replacement of Ramnarine in the WIPA Presidential role the Associations with Cricket West Indies have instead become most cordial and mutually respectful.
Lewis also indicated that an agreement had also been made jointly by WIPA and Cricket West Indies under Hinds and Cameron’s respective leaderships, that while it was understood that the two bodies would also have their difference s the resolution of any ensuing disputes would henceforth be done “behind closed doors and not in front of the cameras” as had happened far too often before.
Lewis did acknowledge that the perception among some players of the relationship between the fellow Jamaicans Hinds and Cameron as being too cozy, together with their abject dissatisfaction of the manner in which it had represented their actions and interests following the West Indies teams’ abandonment of its 2014 India Tour had subsequently resulted in a massive reduction in WIPA’s Membership. Asked directly as to how many of the current West Indies Test players are still WIPA Members, Lewis was unable to provide an actual number. The only two player’s names he was able to provide as current WIPA Members were those of Shimron Hetmeyer and Fabian Allen. By contrast he was far more familiar with the names of players who are still no longer WIPA members. Easily rattling off names of Sunil Narine, the Bravo brothers Darren and Dwayne, along with that of the West Indies’ “white ball” cricket captain Kieron Pollard.
WIPA’s now questionable Membership numbers among current West Indies players could well, therefore, be the spanner that has become a paralyzing wrench to the actual implementation of its Mentorship Initiative. While any player of first-class cricket within the West Indies is eligible to become a WIPA member, it now seems obvious that the numbers of those who actually are may be relatively low.
Lewis also indicated that WIPA has already begun its preparations for its forthcoming negotiations with Cricket West Indies on a new Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) between the two bodies. The existing MOU will expire in July 2023.
Unless rectified and significantly increased between now and the time the new MOU negotiations are started, WIPA’s questionable membership numbers will surely serve to undermine its bargaining strength. As such it may even prove more difficult for WIPA to secure a MOU that will be satisfying to the players it purports to represent, whether they are members or not, than it has apparently been for it to achieve any meaningful progress towards the implementation of its much-touted Mentorship Initiative.
Whither WIPA indeed!