All about money !!!

By M.Bacchus

YES indeed, nothing to do with the spectators.

Rather disturbing that one cannot take into the cricket grounds any liquid, except for medicines, for The Cricket World Cup.

Now, they are asking, nay telling, a West Indian to watch a game for 7-8 hours, not accounting for the time they got to the ground, that he/she cannot take any liquid refreshments into the ground. Instead they are making them buy these in the ground at rip off prices. The same crap was employed at the FIFA Football World Cup 2006 in Germany. However, those spectators had approximately 2 hours to survive without liquid if they wished. Otherwise, they had to pay €3-00, approximately US$4-00, for a glass of water, plus €1-00 deposit for the glass.

Back to the Cricket World Cup. For the locals, the tickets are very expensive for a start, hence the slow uptake, on top of which they are asking the same spectators whom they are daily encouraging/begging to buy match tickets, to find extra cash to buy their refreshments at
double or treble the cost in the grounds as they would pay outside.

It’s not about cricket, it’s more like corporate greed...we may be hosting the games, but it’s the big, ah mean de bully boys show... Worst, if you are supporting let’s say De Windies, do not wear a Windies Shirt with the "Digicel" name/logo imprinted on it. If you do you'll have to watch the game bare back, go home and change or worst lose your ticket money.

This goes for all supporters, be it Indian, Australian, English...etc. Supporters wearing a team’s strip that have a sponsors name/logo which may be considered a competitor of the official sponsors, the ICC, call them, "Partners", will be asked to remove said item and may be refused entry into the ground. They are blatantly saying, we want your money, buy a new team strip.

To add insult to injury, billboards within a few miles of the grounds must be covered up. They are telling the local manufacturers and retailers that they cannot advertise their products to the world, but the corporate world is given the freedom to demand and get what they want. How does this benefit the region? How can a local producer/manufacturer have the names of their products/services seen by visitors to their countries?

Where can they get that sort of exposure to entice visitors to buy their products or enjoy the services they may provide? The big boys get their money, transfer it outside of the region and therefore out of the local economies. I think that the West Indies Cricket Board was either duped or were negligent, for they failed to read the fine print. That or they were too weak to argue their case, even possibly enthusiastically supported the idea, since Mr. Derhing was in Germany during the FIFA Football World Cup.

The governments cannot be blamed, by the time they were told to pass legislation, outlawing what the ICC termed "Ambush Marketing", they had already invested too much money and time into hosting the games to really not do what they were ordered.

To all governments, the ICC Champions Trophy will be held in the Caribbean, in a few years time. Sort these problems out soon, look after and defend the rights of your citizens. The Caribbean region is not exactly awash with money, many of its' citizens live in or close to poverty.

But we must not deprive them of going to watch a game of cricket if they so wish. The governments must insist that all unwarranted restrictions such as those listed above, be removed from all contracts between the WICB & the ICC. With all these restrictions, maybe the local confederation of both the small and large businesses should organise a Trade Exhibition to show off their products....worth thinking about.