| Sports |
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| Another SLC-players clash brewing |
| By S.R. Pathiravithana |
It looks another split between the players and the Sri Lanka Cricket Management is brewing. At a recent press conference the SLC Interim Committee Chairman Arjuna Ranatunga lamented that in future the SLC will not permit the players to be under individual managers and the SLC will also take over the managing of the players and the revenue derived from it would be utilized towards the development of the game in Sri Lanka.
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Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardena and SLCA secretary Graeme Labrooy exchanging views during Thursday’s press conference.
(Pic Harsha Perera) |
This comment has not gone down well with the Sri Lanka Cricketers Association (SLCA) as well as the players. Commenting on the issue Sri Lanka Cricketers Association Secretary Graeme Labrooy termed this move as a direct intervening by the SLC on the players’ fundamental rights. “It is the choice of the individual players to ascertain as to who is to be his manager. Managers for various sportsmen have been around for well over the past four decades handling various aspects of their careers. Some sportsmen even have their own media managers,” he said.
The former Sri Lanka opening bowler said the managers’ job of a sportsman was to market the player and even see the way he could handle himself after his on-field days were over. “For this, every single sportsman has the right to choose his own manager.”
Earlier Ranatunga said there were certain individuals who unscrupulously marketed the players and raked in a handsome sum of ten percent and the same thing happened during the IPL. He pointed out that the SLC did not get a single cent out of this deal.Countering this, the SLCA secretary said, “There are ways of the SLC making money out of cricket and cricketers. SLC has several sponsors – The TV broadcaster, the team sponsor, the clothing sponsor, a general sponsor and at present they have Sri Lanka Telecom sponsoring the Provincial tournament. To make money from the deals with these sponsors the SLC can use the team as a whole or going down they can use up to three players at a time. However, they cannot market individual players. That right lies with the individual player.”
When asked for his comments in the event the SLC puts it down as a part of its yearly contract, Labrooy said, “If player ‘A’ wishes to be managed completely by the SLC, he has the freedom to do so. But, always a player could refuse to play along with the governing body and opt to stay out of the yearly contract. It does not mean that the player is not going to represent the country anymore. It is the duty of the SLC to offer the yearly contract to the player and at the same time it is up to the individual player to choose to sign it. However if the player is still in the reckoning the selectors will decide if they would choose the individual player or not.”
In another development, the issue of a newspaper article casting doubts about the honesty of players who had signed up with the IPL arose at a news conference hosted by SLCA at Hotel Taj Samudra on Thursday. The article backed up its claim with confidential documents, which the players claim had leaked to this newspaper.
The players explained their side of the issue. Sri Lanka cricket captain Mahela Jayawardena and his deputy Kumar Sangakkara said six months prior to the IPL they obtained the clearance certificate from the SLC to take part in the IPL.
They said that at that time they saw that the SLC windows were opened during the next two IPL seasons – 2009 and 2010. Therefore as they were bound by only a yearly contract -- only for 2008 – they went ahead and signed up for the three years. |
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