The chairman Mike Gatting of the MCC’s World Cricket Committee has “strongly urged” the BCCI to support cricket in the Olympics. The majority of ICC member nations are supporting cricket’s T20 format to feature in the Olympics.
But BCCI, and also the England and Wales Cricket Board to some extent, has been uncertain. With the BCCI being the most dominant and substantial, its approval is necessary for taking the matter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Talking about the same, Gatting said, “It’s one of those things that has frustrated me. We would like to urge the BCCI to have a look at it again and support the main body of boards that would like to get into the Olympics. It seems strange that everyone else seems happy to get in there (Olympics) because it’s just going to be so good for the game.”
He further added, “Free-to-air TV all over the world. It’s only once every four years. It’s not going to be a scheduling matter. It just seems they seem reticent to try and get involved.”
The ICC had a prolonged discussion over the matter at its Board meeting in Auckland in October last year, where the BCCI asked for time to discuss it with its officials before coming back to the ICC. It has also been learned that the ICC expects to hear from the BCCI during its next Board meeting in February. The MCC’s World Cricket Committee promoting cricket’s incorporation with the Olympics, however, is not new.
During its meeting in July last year, the committee had urged a “unified front” for cricket’s return to the Olympics. A statement regarding the same read, “The committee believes that now is the right time for cricket to move in line with other major global sports and be played in the Olympics.The committee hopes ICC will present a unified front in applying to the 2024 host city to include cricket in their games.”
Although the last date for presenting bids to the IOC for the insertion of new sports like cricket at the 2024 Games is over, the host city holds the right to included or reduce a sport. The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) discussed the Olympics participation issue at a meeting in July last year, finally deciding that the BCCI members should vote on it, for it’s a “long-term policy decision”. The matter will once again come up for discussion during the CoA meeting on January 22.
Speaking about the same, as quoted in the Indian Express, one of the BCCI officials said, “There are a few things. One is, what would be our position with regard to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) – the Indian contingent goes to the Olympics under the aegis of the IOA and the cricket board might temporarily lose its autonomy. Then, participation in the Olympics might eat into our Future Tours Programme (FTP). Also, with the ICC World T20 to be played every four years, cricket Olympics might take the sheen off the ICC event and the global body could suffer a substantial loss of revenue. Its member boards, in turn, will be affected.”
When CK Khanna was inquired if BCCI will reconsider its stance, he replied, “If the issue has again cropped up, the call has to be taken by the members, not the office-bearers. We will discuss the issue at the appropriate forum.”
Another crucial reason that BCCI is reluctant to Olympics is the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) whereabouts clause. If cricket becomes an Olympic sport, the BCCI will have to sign it, forcing the players to undergo ‘out-of-competition targeted doping tests’ and ‘blood tests’. The Indian players have been opposing this for very long and there’s a section that feels the WADA whereabouts clause violates players’ right to privacy.
One BCCI member spoke about the “contradiction” between the Olympic Charter and the Lodha panel reforms. He said, “To participate in the Olympics, the BCCI will have to sign the Olympic Charter and accept its rules and by-laws. The Olympic Charter doesn’t have an age cap of 70 years for the office-bearers. The Lodha Committee recommendation doesn’t allow it. So there’s a contradiction.”
The fact of the matter is that cricket in the Olympics appears a pretty complex proposition. With the number of athletes now restricted to 10,800 per Games, the host city will have to subtract a few sports to incorporate cricket. For a team sport of 11 players, each team– and women’s participation is also compusory– cricket might give the host city big logistics problems.
However, things are pretty far-fetched as firstly the ICC will have to make an approach and without the BCCI’s support, the global body can’t take the matter forward.
