Between sandpaper and a hard place. Cricket Australia’s sad plight – An opinion by Aubrey Joachim

‘After all cricket is just a game’, ‘They are young men who made a mistake’, ‘he’s a decent young man’ ….. these idioms are flowing thick and fast from some ex-cricketers, media commentators and sections of the Australian community who are aghast at the apparent severity of the sanctions being ‘offered’ to the three musketeers. But what is not realised is that sports is not ‘just a game’ anymore. It is big business with wide ramifications across a whole spectrum of society. Cricket itself is a business, it is financially propped up by other businesses to the tune of billions, creates thousands of jobs directly and indirectly. Therefore, the fate of the three truant musketeers was not just in the hands of their employer – Cricket Australia (CA) – alone but influenced by a number of outside stakeholders. In handing down the sanctions CA had to take all of these factors and stakeholders into consideration. The ramifications run much deeper than the idioms. Cricket Australia is already beginning to see red in its ledgers with major sponsors who want to protect their own brands withdrawing their investments. Consider the multiple knock on effect – including the supposed ‘innocents’ in the team whose earnings are reduced because of their contracts being linked to the CA sponsorship pot.

There are many case studies akin to the situation currently facing Cricket Australia. Some thirty years ago the famed Body Shop – whose founder Anita Roddick received global accolades for her work in environmental and social reform – came to serious grief when a picture of underage Indian kids employed in their factories surfaced. Similarly a picture of young Pakistani boys stitching soccer balls with their bare fingers just prior to the 1994 Soccer World Cup caused serious reputational damage to a major global sporting brand manufacturing those balls. On 24th March 2018 the TV images of an Australian cricketer’s crotch has had the same impact not only on Cricket Australia but on brand Australia – surely a future case study in marketing and risk management.

Cricket Australia will have to be pragmatic in its way forward. A serious review will need to be conducted into how a multi-million dollar asset (the Australian cricket team) was entrusted to a leader and deputy leader both of whom seriously lacked the maturity and competencies to manage their responsibilities. It is common knowledge that all they know is cricket. Does cricketing prowess alone lay claim to the captaincy role? Is it the case that in most instances the ‘best player’ is not necessarily the best captain of the team? Leadership in any context requires exceptional levels of multi-disciplinary skills – including emotional intelligence, self-control, people management skills, communication skills and even commercial acumen. It certainly appears such skill were lacking in the ‘leadership team’ of the Australian cricket team that was hurtling towards its disastrous crash. And crash it did on that fateful day and the resulting casualties are many.

While sponsors are sending a strong negative financial message, Cricket Australia corporate leadership are stumbling from one faltering step to another.  A Roman Emperor named Nero was once in a similar situation. A further proof that cricket is not ‘just a game’ is ratified by the CEO seemingly hiding behind the veil of legality. This being the case should the way forward be for more checks and balances to be introduced in handing over their most precious asset – the national team – to future leaders. Psychometric testing of leadership candidates might be a good start.

As for the fleeing sponsors, Cricket Australia might be well advised to look for a manufacturer of sandpaper who might see an opportunity!!