Sport - Cricket   

BCCI critical of Indian sponsors' stand on contracts issue

By Our Special Correspondent

KOLKATA DEC. 27. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has criticised the stand taken by the Indian sponsors of the ICC Development International (IDI) on the ongoing contracts controversy.

Addressing a press conference here on Friday, Mr. Jagmohan Dalmiya, the president of the BCCI, said, despite the appeal by the Indian Board to the sponsors to grant dispensations to the Indian players, the role taken by them (IDI sponsors) did not serve the interest of the country and its cricketers.

"Either they have not appreciated the genuine problems of the Indian players or they are ignorant,'' said Mr. Dalmiya.

At the same time, the Board thanked the Union Government for extending support to its stand on the ongoing contracts controversy for the 2003 World Cup. Mr. Dalmiya expressed his gratitude to the Government for standing behind the BCCI and the Indian players in the present crisis.

Mr. Dalmiya clarified that the BCCI had no intention to impose any unreasonable restriction on the IDI sponsors. While the IDI sponsors sought to enjoy the advantages uninterrupted, they were keen on blocking their competitors who may have pre-existing arrangements with the Indian players.

"What we want from the IDI sponsors is that they should follow a policy of `live and let live' and not use cricket as a platform for corporate rivalry. This is extremely unfair,'' he said.

"The IDI sponsors are free to derive maximum mileage from the event, but they should not be that unreasonable to prevent cricketers with pre-existing contracts from endorsing competing produces. The Indian players would certainly cooperate with the IDI sponsors and would not indulge in any competitive advertising during the 47-day event (February 8 to March 25, 2003). But it is not desirable to ask the Indian players not to endorse competitive products before or after the event,'' he stated.

Talking about problems with imaging by the IDI sponsors, Mr. Dalmiya opined that "the BCCI and the Indian players have no problem about two months imaging provided that the IDI sponsors do not call upon players who have conflicting endorsements.''

As an illustration, he stated since Virendra Sehwag had a pre-existing arrangement with Coca-Cola, the IDI sponsor (Pepsi) was free to call any 14 out of 15 players for imaging except the player concerned.

Mr. Dalmiya said the sponsors of the Indian players had already granted dispensations. "The fact is that the players' sponsors have already granted dispensation by allowing the players not to take part in any conflicting advertising for 47 days (duration of the event) out of 82 days, even though they were not bound to give such dispensation for a single day,'' explained Mr. Dalmiya.

To a question as to why the BCCI cannot compensate the players if they were suffering financial losses, the Board chief said that the IDI's bundling of rights contract was upto 2007 and the restrictive clauses, in effect, would bind the players for nearly three and a half years out of five years from now to 2007.

"On the face of such restriction, no sponsor would come forward to offer personal endorsements to the players that run to millions of rupees at present. Therefore, neither it is possible for the players to quantify the magnitude of compensation nor would it be acceptable to them because the sponsors would not come forward to for personal endorsement,'' he opined.

"It is hugely unjust that we ask the players to forego millions of rupees by binding them for nearly three and a half years out of five. Furthermore, we cannot be a party to ask the Indian players to break their existing contracts because it is illegal,'' Mr. Dalmiya said.

He also said that the Board would not coerce Indian players to break their existing contracts and sign the controversial players' terms. "If needed we will go for a legal remedy,'' he warned.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

Billiards & Snooker

• Pankaj sails into final
  
  Chess
  
• Abhijit Gupta, Sai Krishna lead in boys' sections
  
  Cricket
  
• It's been a bitter pill to swallow: Wright
• Langer lasts longer, England struggling
• Tillekaratne in World Cup squad
• Das returns home
• Want innovative ideas in losing? Ask the Indians
• Ntini, Hayward trigger Pakistan collapse
• BCCI critical of Indian sponsors' stand on contracts issue
• Gujarat wary of Balaji
  
  Football
  
• Navy, ARC advance
  
  Golf
  
• Digvijay, Mukesh card day's best
  
  Hockey
  
• U.P. puts up a spirited display
  
  Tennis
  
• Praveen pockets a double
  
  Table Tennis
  
• Sangeetha-Aparna duo in final
  
  Korfball
  
• U.P. in last four
  
  

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu