Figuring out the Code

Prem Panicker

For a while now, there has been some debate on whether or no the Indian cricket board needs a media manager.

Those who are in favour, including Dr A C Muthiah and Raj Singh Dungarpur, argue that the appointment of a media manager will help counter some of the negative publicity the Board is getting of late. Those who are against the move -- count the likes of Jagmohan Dalmiya, Jaywant Lele and Kamal Morarka in that lot -- simply say there is no need for any such nonsense.

The ICC, meanwhile, has gone ahead and appointed a media manager -- Mark Harrison, by name. And from where we sit, we feel like giving Harrison, and the ICC, three rousing cheers. On taking over the job, Mark Harrison assiduously compiled a list of print, television and web-based media around the world that covers cricket, compiled an address book, and now ensures that every single press release is sent out to every member of the media. Which in turn helps us get the news to you -- as opposed to the previous system where you had to go to the ICC website, hosted by Cricinfo, to see if there is anything fresh.

Similarly, the ICC's new media manager is very quick to respond to emailed requests for additional information -- which obviously helps us in the media improve the quality of our own coverage.

There is a lesson in here for the BCCI -- but damned if they are going to learn it! Dr Muthiah had in fact announced in December that within 30 days, the Board will have its own media manager. It is well past the deadline, yet there is no sight of the promised appointment. And why would there be, given that the Board's activities these days can best be described as a never-ending Mexican standoff -- anything the Muthiah group seeks to do, the Dalmiya faction fights to block and vice versa.

Funnily enough, I thought of Mark Harrison when I read a small news item, to the effect that "bowling legend Dennis Lillee has urged the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) to demand the removal of on-field microphones of the type that landed controversial leg-spinner Shane Warne in hot water last weekend. "The ACB must now demand the insidious stump microphones be removed for all time," the retired Lillee said.

Warne was called before the ACB to explain himself after expletives uttered by him to batsman Stuart Carlisle in last Sunday's tri-nations series one-day match in Sydney against Zimbabwe were picked up by a stump microphone and relayed to thousands of people in their homes.

It so happens that just yesterday, we had got a courier package from Mark Harrison of the ICC, containing hard copies of the latest Code of Conduct as released on November 2000. Last night, I was skimming through the 140-page booklet -- and in context of Lillee's statement, some passages are worth quoting here:

C. Players and Team Officials Code:

Item 2: Players and/or team officials shall at no time engage in conduct unbecoming to their status which could bring them or the game of cricket into disrepute.

Item 4: Playes and/or Team Officials shall not verbally abuse, assault, intimidate or attempt to assault or intimidate any umpire, spectator, referee, player or team official. Nor shall any player and/or team official engage in any conduct towards or speak to any other player, umpire, spectator, referee or team official in a manner which offends, insults, humiliates, intimidates, threatens, disparages or villifies the other person on the basis of that person's race, religion, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin.

Item 5: Players and/or team officials shall not use crude or offensive language nor make offensive gestures.

So what happens if a player contravenes one of the above conditions? Enter, left, the ICC Referee -- whose appointment, powers, et al are dealt with in Section D. Again, we quote, the relevant bits about what he can do in case players transgress any of the above norms:

Item 8 (b): The Referee shall ensure the Players and Team Officials Code, together with each of the Rules of Conduct therein, is upheld.

(c) Investigate and adjudicate upon breaches of the Rules of Conduct

(d) Ensure the appropriate sanction is applied to any person found to be in breach of the Rules of Conduct

But hey, all these are laws written in a book, right? So who said cricketers, even the literate ones, actually spend time reading all these books? Maybe they don't know about the law, right?

Wrong. Part of the duties of the match referee include, as per the provisions spelt out in this little handbook, for him to summon a meeting of the concerned teams, officials, umpires et al before a series gets under way. At that meeting, he is expected, among other things, to "impress to all present the importance of the Players and Team Officials Code and the seriouisness of a breach of any of the Rules of Conduct contained therein".

In other words, before a series starts, all cricketers -- even the illiterate ones, and those whose off-field activities (including, I presume from recent events, attending language classes to expand the vocabulary and attain greater fluency in the art of exchanging compliments with a batsman who has just hit you for three -- THREE??!! -- runs) don't leave much time for reading, are well aware of the ICC code and its provisions.

The story so far: There is a code. It prohibits the use of abusive language. There is a match referee, who is given the job of ensuring, first, that all concerned are aware of the code, and second, that any breaches of said code are punished.

But, comes the question, what can the ICC Referee do, if the umpires on the field and the opposing team do not complain? (Which is what happened in the case of Shane Warne, for instance). The ICC, it turns out, has thought of this, too. Thus, the ICC Code says, in Section E, sub-section 1, that any breaches of the Code can be reported by either the umpires, or the team manager, or the CEO of the Board of one iof the participating countries, or the ICC's own chief executive.

So none of the above complained about Warne, right? Fine, now read Section E, sub-section 1.2:

"The Referee has the right to investigate any incident which may be a breach of the Code of Conduct, whether or not the same has been reported by any person identified in paragraph E1.1."

Do note -- the ICC Referee has the right to investigate, EVEN IF no one else has made a formal complaint.

The ICC Referee for the ongoing tri-series in Australia is Dennis Lindsay, who used to keep wickets for South African in the 1960s. So far, he hasn't uttered a single word on the subject of Shane Warne. Nor, come to think of it, has the ICC's CEO -- despite Warne's words to Stuart Carlisle being a clear breach of the provisions of the code. Nor, interestingly, have the umpires (for the game in question, in Sydney, the on-field umpires were Darrell Hair and Peter Parker), whose duty it is to uphold the code on the field of play.

Sort of like the three monkeys, who heard, saw, and spoke, no evil. All the evil-speaking, in fact, was left for that paragon of virtues, Shane Warne, to do -- the same Shane Warne who, not so long ago, lost the Australian team's vice-captaincy thanks to his hugely articulate, and entertaining, nocturnal phone calls.

All this happens -- and there is no word of official condemnation.

Which is not to say no one has said anything about the issue. The ACB, thus, has asked Channel Nine to explain how the words were allowed to go on air! And Dennis Lillee -- a legend in his own right and, moreover, the man who serves as chief coach at the MRF Pace Academy and as such, is in charge of teaching young hopefuls their cricketing ABCs -- has asked for the immediate removal of the stump mikes.

Obviously, vulgar abuse is not a crime -- the crime lies with those pesky boffins who figured out how to put tiny little mikes into the stumps.

So by all means, now that we all know where we stand, let's get rid of the stump mikes. But why stop with that? Why not, while we are about it, abolish the ICC, its Code of Conduct, the Match Referee and sundry other redundancies? Let's abolish all this silly norms that no one gives a hoot about anyways, and give the players the license to swill, at the pig-trough of filthy language.

Design: Devyani Chandwarkar
Illustration: Dominic Xavier