Former South Africa captain Graeme Smith has slammed Cricket Australia’s stance in the ongoing pay scrap.
Smith was one of Australia’s most bitter rivals during a stellar career, the highlight of which arguably came in 2008 when he led the Proteas to their first-ever Test series win in Australia.
As a youngster, the opener put Matthew Hayden and Shane Warne’s noses out of joint when he publicly complained about Australia’s sledging.
More recently, he upset Steve Smith last summer with a stinging critique of Australia’s culture amid a five-Test losing streak.
Overnight, Graeme Smith leapt to the defence of his namesake and the hundreds of unemployed Australian cricketers embroiled in the current saga.
“I was part of a revenue-share partnership model for many years as a player and this was a critical factor in fostering the relationship between board and players,” Smith said in a statement issued by the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA).
“In the current cricket environment where players have other options I don’t understand why a board would want to change a partnership that has proved to be successful.”
Smith is one of two independent FICA board members.
The other is former Southern Stars allrounder Lisa Sthalekar, who also sits on the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) executive.
“It has been heartening to see the unity shown from the male and female players across Australia at a time when they have come under immense pressure,” Sthalekar said in the FICA statement.
“I know there is a lot of support around the world for the principled stance they are taking to maintain a genuine partnership for all players, not just a few.”
The previous Memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Cricket Australia (CA) and the ACA expired on June 30. The two parties have hardly negotiated in recent months because they remain deadlocked over the issue of revenue sharing.
The governing body wants to scrap the model that has shaped players’ salaries since the first MoU was agreed 20 years ago.
CA boss James Sutherland continues to ignore the union’s pleas for him to enter emergency mediation.
This month’s Australia A tour to South Africa is set to be boycotted because of the pay stoush. Upcoming tours to Bangladesh and India, plus this summer’s Ashes, could also be affected unless the impasse ends.
CA have reportedly warned Cricket South Africa the tour may not go ahead with the latter’s chief executive Haroon Lorgat confirming they were already making contingency plans.
Don Freo
Guest
Perhaps you don't get the dispute, anon. If it was "just a job", they'd take the money. They are standing up for lesser paid cricketers...including the women.
Bert
Guest
It doesn't matter whether we are talking about cricket, big business or (especially) government, big revenues generate ever bigger bureaucracies. Customers don't matter.People don't matter. Professionalism doesn't mean you get better; it means you chase the all mighty dollar over performance or harmony. Having said that; the only model that works in Professional sports is joint partnership between administration and players sharing funds as a % of total revenue. So the CA model is way out of line with all other sporting models in the Western World. The fact they can't see that is appalling.
anon
Roar Pro
The fact the players are willing to use the Ashes as a bargaining chip shows you that this is just a job to them and not a calling.
Alex L
Roar Rookie
It's two groups of people who have succeeded in ways that cause (and perhaps demand) a level of arrogance not found in most people clashing.
DavSA
Guest
And Smith like him or not has always spoken his mind.
DavSA
Guest
The Pay dispute saga has been widely reported on here in SA . Watching from a comfortable detached distance I find it quite remarkable that this has been allowed to drag on for so long . Too many egos maybe ?
davros
Guest
mm thats a c a troll right there !
Mark
Guest
Independent voice my a... . Who would have ever thought an official of the international cricketers' union would echo the views of the local cricketers' union. The ACA probably wrote his talking points for him. If the ACA were being as reasonable as they want us to believe, one wonders why they're being so aggressive trying to ram their position down the media's throat every day.
davros
Guest
totally agree with all that ! This Peever has serious form in engineering these types of disputes ...he is on record as saying that he finds unions irrelevant and he wants individual contracts . I have the feeling their could be a fracture between Sutherland Peever and Roberts ? Maybe Sutherland has been told to stay out of this ? Whatever the case ....one way out of this is ..an extraordinary general meeting where Peever is shown the door ..as he was after he stuffed things up at Rio Tinto . If the main driver of this ridiculous C A posn is not dealt with ...it has the potential to cost many more there careers.(which frankly wouldnt bother me) I also wonder if there is a legal argument /posn in regards to who owns the funds that C A are using to keep there own snouts in the trough ...whilst the players who have generated the revenue under the previous partnership revenue share model ...get paid nothing ?
TheCunningLinguistic
Guest
Well said, Bert!
Bert
Guest
Graeme Smith is a smart man and doesn't love Australian cricketers by any means So he is an independent voice.. He is talking the truth here. The appointment of former Rio Tinto chief David Peever as chairman of CA last year was a terrible mistake. Players aren’t miners. They don’t dig coal. They are your mine. They are your coal. Treat them like employees in an old-fashioned union barney and you will create ill will on a level that hasn’t existed since the bad old days. Go to Hollywood and try to treat your biggest stars that way and see how the movie goes. That is where we are at. There is nobody willing to play for Cricket Australia under the conditions on offer and it gets worse. When they do return to the fold, as they surely must, then they return scarred but galvanised by this experience. And for what? A point of principle. Really? If it is Cricket Australia’s task to administer cricket in this country then they are doing a terrible job of it. They don’t have one player willing to tour for them. Not one. How did they let it get this far? James Sutherland must be sacked immediately He has lost the players and his position is untenable.