WICB should justify its actions against Gayle
Dear Editor,
The way in which the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has gone about its dispute with Mr Christopher Gayle, disrespects a Jamaican, West Indian and Commonwealth sports personality, as if in a puerile attempt to humiliate him. If this were not enough, the WICB, in a similar show of disrespect, displays scant regard for the people and governments of the region. Amazingly, there has been no groundswell of activist opposition to this insult.
This issue, because of the fundamental principle involved, should not go away without a settlement that is honourable and fair to all the concerned parties. Otherwise, institutions and individuals in the region, in whom this attitude has been ingrained as a result of our historical experience, will see the board’s behaviour as the way to go.
The least the board should do is explain the case against Mr Gayle in more detail and subject it to transparent adjudication, so that we can understand better why his right to work and his freedom to express his views are being curtailed. For there might well be a credible case against Mr Gayle, one which justifies the severe sanction of exclusion from a team which represents all of us in this cricket-loving region. But the board needs to spell it out. Otherwise, we are left to conclude that, as representatives of the West Indian people, theirs is an arrogant and grossly unprofessional approach to personnel management and general administration of a critical regional resource. This makes the issue one that transcends Mr Gayle as an individual and cricketer. For if we appear to condone what the board has done and is doing in this case, what is to prevent it from meting out similar injustice to even more vulnerable members of the sport whom it does not like for personal, petty and invalid reasons?
Surely, self-respecting members of proud democracies must consider this intolerable. If so, we ought to insist that the board justify its actions. One way to do this is by sending a petition with as many signatures as possible, demanding of the board a satisfactory explanation of its actions, with the option to take further steps should it fail to respond appropriately.
After all, the Jamaica Cricket Association to its credit, albeit under public pressure, rescinded rather than sought to justify an insensitive decision to name a pavilion at Sabina Park in honour of Lawrence Rowe.
Dale Anderson
hdaleanderson@hotmail.com