Depending on the extent of your moral and ethical flexibility and sense of fair play it’s usually possible to distinguish the good guys from the bad guys, be it in a book, film, play or even just a dull old sports administration. Unless it’s in South Africa.
Here, some sports administrators still operate on the basis that unless they cash in on what’s available for themselves as soon as possible their chance may be gone before they know it. And they have a point — there is an awful lot of back-stabbing going on!
Unlike the millions of good people who serve their communities in the fields of healthcare or education; people who have no hope or expectation of large bonuses or unexpected perks, some sports administrators appear to be motivated by a desperate drive to acquire either power or its trappings. But these people don’t think like the rest of us.
Why would a top administrator turn his back on 20-plus years of friendship with the Cricket SA president and sign a letter of no confidence in him, just because he’s been told that he will, soon enough, become president himself, forsaking three decades of comradeship for the promise of the CSA presidency, which will last two years, maybe four? Why would anyone do that? It must be that old saying about power and the way it corrupts people.
Why would a chief executive of a major national company show no contrition or regret after being caught paying himself a mighty bonus without consulting (or even merely informing) the committee appointed to oversee such payments? Some people just find it impossible to say “sorry”.
It’s not just their attitude to themselves that is hard to fathom. Take the position of national coach (which needs to be filled after the World Cup). If a major corporation or business needs a new chief executive, and it wants the best, does it ask all the top contenders from its rivals to send in their CVs and then call them in for an interview? No, it identifies the woman or man whom it believes best fits its needs and then carefully headhunts him or her.
The CSA is appointing a new head coach for the national team, not the manager of a Steers franchise. There aren’t too many qualified people available. The list is already short. Asking them to send in their résumés and to go through an application process will make it even shorter because the best of the best won’t bother.
Sure, labour practice dictates that the position be advertised, but everybody in the world of big business knows how the system operates. Lengthy discussions take place with candidates before they apply, not during the interview process. What would the interviewing panel learn from the CVs of Richard Pybus, Dave Nosworthy or Kepler Wessels? Or Gary Kirsten, for that matter?
The suggestion that the CSA is merely acting in the interests of transparency is laughable, given its own attitude to “internal” and “external” evaluations of its own performance.
Its recent press release, entitled “CSA reassures public”, was beyond funny. The assertion that the national players will not be affected by the ongoing spat between the chief executive, the board and the soon-to-be outgoing president was unbelievable given the way the CSA’s media department ruthlessly dragged the national captain into the furore with another spurious release in which Graeme Smith was said to be “pledging his support” for the chief executive.
Smith’s comments were extracted from his routine pre-match press conference before the fourth one-day international against India in Port Elizabeth on Friday 21 and shamelessly isolated to form what looked like a glowing endorsement of chief executive Gerald Majola against president Mthuthuzeli Nyoka. South African Cricketers’ Association chief executive Tony Irish was appalled and immediately communicated his strong disapproval to CSA. Smith, understandably, said nothing more.
It is ironic that the umpteenth bout of selfish bickering among the game’s leaders might improve the team’s performance at the World Cup in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in February and March. The squabbling will be 6000km away when they land in Chennai for a gentle warm-up match against Zimbabwe. The sound of political silence will be soothing and conducive to good cricket.
The future, as always, is never as bleak as it may seem. The self-serving administrators are outnumbered by the good people in the game and even those at its national centre have its best interests at heart despite being sidetracked by its benefits.
There comes a time when everyone realises that biting the hand that feeds him or her is an unwise policy. The CSA’s income has increased from a few million rands a year 10 years ago to more than R130-million last year. Diversifying that income into non-core businesses, such as the R25-million invested in a fleet of 17 transport buses last year, is plain nonsense. That is the next scandal the CSA will have to endure.
For now, however, it’s time to take the collective eye off the boardroom and focus it firmly on the World Cup. Some of the “suits” may still make hideous decisions behind the scenes but, no matter how much they believe they are untouchable, their actions will not go unnoticed.