Muthiah says "ambush advertising" is new term

Former Board of Control Cricket in India president A C Muthiah has accused his successor Jagmohan Dalmiya of deviating from the sponsorship issue by blaming others instead of persuading the players to sign the ICC Champions Trophy contract.

Reacting to allegations made by Dalmiya -- that he was kept in the dark and Muthiah was privy to ICC Cricket Events Agreements (CEA) -- the former board president said, "Dalmiya is perhaps finding ways to wriggle out of his responsibilities by giving lame excuses."

Muthiah appealed to the BCCI to stop casting aspersions on him for having signed only the "compliance agreement" when he was the president of the BCCI.

"I, as board president, signed the initial agreement with the ICC in May 2001. Its salient features were that member countries should compete in four championship events and two World Cups, and that each country should send its best team possible for these events," he said, adding as far as India's participation is concerned, it was agreed that it would depend on government sanction.

Stating that the term "ambush advertising" is new to him, Muthiah said: "I am hearing it for the first time. It did not figure in the compliance agreement signed during my tenure.

"I am not here to question the wisdom of the present BCCI management, but the fact remains that the final agreements were signed in December 2001 and May 2002, wherein all stipulations on players' participation had figured."

He said there should not be any difference of opinion between the BCCI and players, since "both are complementary to each other".

"The players are the product of the board and hence they must also the keep the board's interest in mind. As I see it, there should be no quarrel between them. Therefore, it is important that the board should not take revenge against them, as any confrontation will be against the interest of both the board and the players.

"There is nothing wrong on the players focussing too much on their own interests. Their life span at the top of the game in the international arena is rather limited to about eight years or so. These boys have God-given talent and are dedicating everything to the game. It is more or less a profession for them. During this short period, they have to earn as much as they can," he said.

On the specifics of the issues raised by Dalmiya, he clarified: "I have not seen the agreements signed in December 2001 and May 2002. When I was board president, ICC member countries made the World Cup event a property for advertisers and finalised the agreement for a huge sum of $550 million, 70 per cent of which was to be distributed equally among all cricket-playing countries."

He concluded by saying: "In the interest of the game, all member countries should discuss this issue at the ICC's Dubai meeting on Saturday, since all of them are facing the same problem."

Mail Cricket Editor