Cricket strike would be last resort, says Marsh
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Union boss Paul Marsh says Australia’s top cricketers are not ruling out strike action if the June 30 deadline passes without a new pay agreement.
Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) chief Marsh is at loggerheads with Cricket Australia (CA) over negotiations for a new five-year deal.
Although it’s seen as a last resort by Marsh, Australia’s participation in the Twenty20 World Cup in Sri Lanka in September could be under threat, along with Australia’s one-day international tour of England in June-July.
CA has put state and Big Bash contract talks on hold under the threat of a $50,000 fine until a new agreement is signed.
“You can’t rule anything out. I don’t want this to sound like the players are all preparing to go on strike because that’s not the case at all,” Marsh told SEN Radio on Monday.
“That type of action is an absolute last resort.”
Marsh said if a new deal couldn’t be agreed upon by June 30, the ACA would prefer to keep the current deal rolling along in the short term.
“If Cricket Australia don’t want to do that, then we’re forced with a decision to make,” Marsh said.
“We either accept the position that they put forward or we look at what our other options are.
“We should be making sure we know what all the different options are so if that time comes, we can sit down with the players and say `what do you want to do?’”
Marsh said negotiations were at a stalemate.
He said CA wanted a sliding-scale deal on the back of what came out of the Argus Review last year.
“That would see the potential for the players to earn less than 26 per cent if their performances fall below a certain benchmark, but more than 26 per cent for performances that go above that benchmark,” Marsh said.
“We’re pretty close on that particular issue, but we haven’t actually reached agreement on it.
“(But) Cricket Australia is basically trying to take certain revenue streams that we’ve got for the last 15 years out of that pool.
“Their rationale is that they’re low-margin revenue streams and therefore it’s not affordable for cricket to keep giving players 26 per cent of those.
“We’ve always just put them all into a pot and bundled them together and we’ve come up with an amount at 26 per cent.
“That’s where there’s a fair bit of angst from us.
“We’re not asking for anything more than we’ve currently got but at this stage they’re not prepared to do a deal on that basis.”
Marsh estimated the figure at $30 million over a five-year period.
“It’s not as though we’re being offered anything in return for giving that up,” he said.
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The Crowd Says (7) | Page 1 of Comments
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June 5th 2012 @ 10:21am
Brett McKay said | June 5th 2012 @ 10:21am | Report comment
let’s hope so, Paul, let’s hope so…
June 5th 2012 @ 12:11pm
Ian Whitchurch said | June 5th 2012 @ 12:11pm | Report comment
My bigger problem is that it’s only the players at the very top that have any bargaining power in this, and so they will get the money.
The very poor pay to State level cricketers is meaning Australian Rules is becoming a much, much better career choice for an athletically talented sixteen year old.
June 5th 2012 @ 4:35pm
Bob said | June 5th 2012 @ 4:35pm | Report comment
You are right Ian re AFL taking the 16 year olds that would have normally made their way to cricket. I have it on good authority that a local (country NSW) 15 yo very talented cricketer has been taken in by a Sydney AFL Academy, gets regular calls (weekly basis) to check on his welfare, schooling, fitness, etc, making sure all is OK with him. He’s now getting contact from interested Melbourne clubs too. Maybe if you are Pat Cummins, you might get that sort of treatment but speaking as a parent of a state cricketer, he got nothing…at all and had to bust his backside to get anywhere!
Cricket doesn’t even provide that type of care for state level players, let alone players who are trying to “make it” into squads. Cricket needs to reassess how they attract younger players very quickly or they will all walk out to footys’ open and much more welfare based and caring doorway!
That aside, I think it’s so sad that T20 Big Bash took money away from state cricket just at a time when we were trying to establish a new and stronger pathway and players for our test team. Test players mostly or should come from shield cricket but now there’s not enough or very little money in that for a non-test player to survive financially! The demands and expectations on their time is high (I know, people will argue that but it’s the case in reality) regardless of if you are rookie or senior player, but there is little reward apart from the pride that comes from playing for your state. Some of these guys are trying to pay off homes (usually in captial cities so more expensive) and cars but that’s tough on a $60K income. I don’t get why CA cannot see this is going to become a major issue. I also find it highly amusing that half of the 2011/12 shield competition now have an Australian contract, that’s 34 players! What a joke. They are now trying to cut that number in half and expect states to fund the difference to try and keep the discarded Australian players, with no additional financial support! Boo hiss is all I can say these days!
June 5th 2012 @ 4:43pm
Bob said | June 5th 2012 @ 4:43pm | Report comment
In addition, I would be concerned that younger players will be much more attracted to and aim for T20 cricket as that’s where all the money is. Then let’s “watch this space” as in 10 to 15 years we may have none with the correct skill sets to play the longer format and test cricket anyway. What a sad day that would be, my 12 yo would be devastated, or maybe he will continue to put his efforts into his AFL instead!
June 5th 2012 @ 7:28pm
Ian Whitchurch said | June 5th 2012 @ 7:28pm | Report comment
Bob,
The issue is that spectators are willing to show up and pay their sixpences for 20/20, and they arent for longer forms of the game.
Therefore, either cricketers become amateurs again, or they play what people want to pay to watch.
June 6th 2012 @ 4:16am
Lolly said | June 6th 2012 @ 4:16am | Report comment
T20 might help attract players. I can understand why kids wouldn’t want to watch test cricket where they might love T20 and maybe choose cricket based on that format.
June 8th 2012 @ 10:36am
Don Corleone said | June 8th 2012 @ 10:36am | Report comment
Bob,
I think cricket is starting to improve the way it cares for it’s up-and-coming players.
My 15-year-old daughter is in a regional squad of the NSW Cricket Academy. A program is being run throughout winter which includes regular coaching sessions, weekend camps and games.
There is an emphasis on the players being committed to cricket over other sports and in return NSW Cricket is investing in them as emerging elite players.