New Zealand cricketers responded to pressure from ”an autograph industry” in England by charging some people for signing bats on their tour in June and July, officials confirmed on Tuesday.
Only after discovering many of the objects they were signing were being sold commercially, the team formed a policy of charging for autographs on specific items, New Zealand Cricket said.
The authoritative cricket website Cricinfo.com condemned New Zealand for demanding payment in certain cases, saying they failed to ”show respect for the game’s traditional values”.
”This presumably includes being fair to one’s fans and not charging autograph-hunters money for the privilege of an illegible scribble, as was the case on their tour of England earlier this summer,” the website said.
New Zealand Cricket public affairs manager Steve Addison said on Tuesday that team manager Lindsay Crocker had confirmed payment was sometimes sought for autographs. The team policy applied only to items, principally bats, which had been brought to the dressing room and which were later sold.
Crocker has returned to New Zealand from England because of illness and could not be directly interviewed.
Addison said the decision was ”a reaction to an issue”.
In spite of the decision, the team freely signed autographs outside the dressing for members of the public and autographed bats that were sold for charities.
Addison could not say how much the team charged for autographs but said money raised went to a team fund which was later divided among the players.
”The team only charged for signing whole bats which were brought to the dressing room and which were later sold commercially,” he said.
”The team still continued to sign caps and books and all manner of things for members of the public who approached them outside the dressing room.”
Addison said New Zealand Cricket had no firm policy on charging for autographs and did not expect to institute one. He said the problem of professional autograph hunters approaching players was particularly pronounced in England which had ”an autograph industry”. – Sapa-AP