The new managing director of cricket impressed at Sky but his lack of experience is a concern for an ECB lacking leadershipRob Key is someone I have known for a very, very, long time. He’s been involved in cricket through his career; as a player, as a captain, and then with Sky, where he has become a prominent voice, somewhat surprisingly. I say surprisingly because they tend to hire former England captains for their main punditry and analysis roles, so Rob was a little bit of an outlier in that sense. But he has grown into the role very well and often comes up with thought-provoking conversations. Continue reading...
Competition authorities need to find a model for a more culturally interesting European league, not the most lucrativeWhat unites us in Europe? In the current crisis, when the world is changing from a rule-based to a power-based order, Europe is moving closer together and remembering its most important principle: rules and laws apply. This has been agreed in Porto and Helsinki, Bruges and Athens, Warsaw, Prague and Ljubljana.Football is a mosaic of social life. It contributes to negotiating and communicating values. Whether it finds acceptance and whether western society identifies with it depends on whether its competitions are fair and subject to good rules, ie whether many are allowed to participate with a chance of success. Continue reading...
Governing bodies are using weasel words, instead of the plain ones needed: invasion, war, murderEarly last Thursday, overcome by the desire to do something, anything, however petty, to try to fight off that sense of desperate futility, I started sending out emails to the sports federations who had events scheduled in Russia this year asking if they were going to cancel them. There were already reports that Uefa was talking about moving the Champions League final, later that day the FIA announced it was cancelling the Russian GP, and Rugby Europe that it was calling off Russia’s upcoming match against Georgia. A lot of the Olympic sports, though, were moving a little more slowly.Fina, which was due to hold two...
The scandal of ECB executives sharing a £2.1m windfall shows why shuffling England’s backroom staff is not enough“Terrific, Mr Mayor. We found the shark!” It has been hard to find any great sense of resolution in the departure this week, by mutually lawyered-up consent, of the head coach, the batting coach and the “managing director” of the England men’s cricket team.In fairness Chris Silverwood never seemed that convinced himself, carrying out his public duties with the fearful, haunted look of a man who only left the house to fetch a pint of milk but finds himself 11 hours later still in his pyjamas, 18 Jägerbombs deep, a tattoo of monkey on his neck, and being asked now to give the...
Cricket’s executives are unrepresentative of the sport and hopelessly ill-equipped to tackle the problems it facesAnd it all started so well. The England and Wales Cricket Board’s chief executive, Tom Harrison, began his appearance in front of the DCMS select committee with earnest thanks, to the MPs for the opportunity, and to Azeem Rafiq for his testimony, then eased into a well-rehearsed spiel about everything the ECB has been doing.He spoke about Inspiring Generations, the South-Asian Action Plan, the transformed women and girls pathway, his 12-point plan, £25m of new investment, how he had matched funding with broadcast partners, built a burgeoning link with Kick It Out, launched a new anti-discrimination unit, a dressing-room culture review, a game-wide census, and...