Cronje needs to be admired

In the next few days, the dramatis personnae will split hairs, a la Bill Clinton. Like Cronje now saying he only provided information on weather and pitch conditions and did not even take the money.

It is hard not to draw a parallel with two other major sports crimes which have surfaced in recent memories. The first was the large-scale state-sponsored drugging of athletes by the East German regime and secondly, the way some members of the International Olympic Committee had `sold’ their votes for personal gains and consideratuons.

In both cases, the powers-that-be sought to solve the problems with what seemed nothing better than a face-saving remedy. The East German regime was rightly blamed, but neither the IOC nor the IAAF sought to do anything about a problem, which even then, seemed rampant outside East Germany. Finally, when Ben Johnson was caught at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the officials proudly announced the sport had been cleansed, but over the next few years more names kept tumbling out. And they keep doing so even now.

The IOC set up its own inquiry and then went on to sack about half a dozen members from its 100-plus club and promptly announced new IOC guidelines.

In terms of sheer magnitude, the Cronje episode is probably as big if not bigger. For even though the sport is played only by a handful of countries, it has huge audiences largely built around the Indian diaspora spread across the world. India-based TV Channels slugging it out for rights, Indian companies falling over each to sponsor cricket, Indian audiences going crazy over the game. Little wonder then, it is Indian bookies and agents who get mentioned in every rumour relating to match-fixing, betting or whatever.

Even when a Cronje gets caught, it is because of a dalliance with an Indian bookie. So, where does it all point to?

Ironically, it is an Indian, Jagmohan Dalmiya, who is at the helm of the International Cricket Council. He has dreams of making this game as global as football or the Olympic Games. It would be foolish to believe he does not understand the precarious condition his sport is in. It was he, and his one-time friend, IS Bindra, who gave India a world presence in the game and brought in big-money. That probably is where the ills of cricket began. Big money brought big trouble.

For years, there were rumours of `fixing’ from Sharjah, especially in India-Pakistan matches. Reports of Indian scribes being approached by bookies; reports of Indian players being close to bookies and reports of Indian players having disproportionate wealth. But even that did not set the Indian Board thinking. All it had was a cursory inquiry, which was never made public.

It is said that Dalmiya wants to ensure his place in cricket history. He could, by cleaning up the game, but even if he doesn’t, he would still be remembered, but as the President, during whose tenure cricket went through its worst crisis.

But will the Indian Board or the ICC have the courage to deal with the problem head on, or will it go the way many other sports controversies have before this one?

Finally, one is forced to admire Hansie Cronje even in his hour of shame. It took a man’s faith to bring out the truth. Cynical, it may sound, but it is hard to believe that cricket still has men like him who will own upto their crimes. For cricket had long forfeited the right to be called the Gentleman’s Game.