Darrell Hair against the world
February 9th 2007 00:58
I'm not sure what was going through Darrell Hairs mind when he decided to try and sue both the ICC and the PCB for alleged racism. I would have thought that if he were to sue anybody he should also include the other nations that voted against him in the meeting that voted to kick him off the elite umpiring panel. The suit against the ICC and the PCB will do nothing to enhance the reputation of the ICC or himself and blow any chance he may have harboured of ever umpiring at the top level again .
What is apparent is that there was a major problem with him as an umpire. It says something against him, that he, as one umpire can have half the cricketing world against him and that the other half of the cricketing world just happens to non white. I don't hear these same reports against Billy Bowden, Simon Taufel or any other white umpire, so I'm not convinced it's a racial issue. It has to be an onfield umpiring issue.
What is interesting is that there had been a problem for quite a period of time between himself and mainly sub continental teams and yet the ICC did very little about it. As the governing body I would have thought it would have been in it's best interests to have been not only prudent but proactive and call in all parties involved (in this case Mr Hair, representatives of the countries who have issues with his umpiring, an ICC representative, another umpire or a member of the umpiring panel and an impartial mediator) in the dispute and broker peace. It should have been a win-win situation, but in the end everybody in cricket was the big loser as an umpire was lost to the game and the chasm between the sub continent and the rest of the cricketing world grew wider.
What worries me is that I don't believe that the ICC has changed anything or put anything into place to stop blocs of countries from highjacking the game for their own means and ends. This should have been a wake up call to the ICC. It's only a matter of time to see if the ICC is truly awake or has just turned off the alarm and gone back to sleep.
What is apparent is that there was a major problem with him as an umpire. It says something against him, that he, as one umpire can have half the cricketing world against him and that the other half of the cricketing world just happens to non white. I don't hear these same reports against Billy Bowden, Simon Taufel or any other white umpire, so I'm not convinced it's a racial issue. It has to be an onfield umpiring issue.
What is interesting is that there had been a problem for quite a period of time between himself and mainly sub continental teams and yet the ICC did very little about it. As the governing body I would have thought it would have been in it's best interests to have been not only prudent but proactive and call in all parties involved (in this case Mr Hair, representatives of the countries who have issues with his umpiring, an ICC representative, another umpire or a member of the umpiring panel and an impartial mediator) in the dispute and broker peace. It should have been a win-win situation, but in the end everybody in cricket was the big loser as an umpire was lost to the game and the chasm between the sub continent and the rest of the cricketing world grew wider.
What worries me is that I don't believe that the ICC has changed anything or put anything into place to stop blocs of countries from highjacking the game for their own means and ends. This should have been a wake up call to the ICC. It's only a matter of time to see if the ICC is truly awake or has just turned off the alarm and gone back to sleep.
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