Cost of SA’s cricket mess high

It is no exaggeration to say that South African cricket is going through its most traumatic phase since re-admission to the international game in 1992. Its governing body, Cricket South Africa (CSA), is in a shambles. Yesterday, it suspended its CEO, Thabang Moroe, following a week of controversy which started after the umbrella body capriciously withdrew accreditation for five cricket writers (including our own Ken Borland) who have published stories on the CSA mess.

Moroe and his equally arrogant communications chief, Thami Mthembu, ducked and dived around the bans – including some outright lying – before backing down when the public furore could no longer be ignored.

Yet, the revocation of credentials for the scribes was, effectively, the straw that broke the camel’s back for sponsors like the Willowton group, which demanded that Moroe’s head roll. So, too, to the cricket players’ association which, ominously, threatened to go out on strike because CSA was repeatedly ignoring it.

However, the biggest blow to CSA – and to cricket in the country – came yesterday when Standard Bank, the biggest and most loyal sponsor of the national team, said it would not renew its contract with CSA when it expires next year.

It is a great pity that Standard Bank did not wait until the outcome of today’s CSA crisis meeting, which will try to map a way out of the current morass. Had they done so, they might have seen the light of hope at the end of the tunnel.

Their absence means there is still a great opportunity for a sponsor to step in and play much more than just a marketing game. This is almost at a stage of disaster relief and brands with money and strong values could well do South African sport a great service by being part of the cricket rescue effort.