 | « Back to article | Print this article |
All-rounder Andrew Symonds faces disciplinary action from Cricket Australia for his "outspoken and inaccurate comments" in an unpublished newspaper column in which he panned the Board for not allowing the players join the Indian Premier League.
CA's spokesperson Peter Young said the Board stood by the decision to withhold the column because there were several inaccuracies in the story that also amounted to breach of contract.
"In the contract there are requirements relating to public comment and the obligation to not disparage various parties and also it's a contractual issue," Young said.
Accordingly, Symonds has been asked to get in touch with CA chief executive James Sutherland.
Young said The Sunday Telegraph had emailed him the column with only a 30-minute deadline to get it approved by CA lawyers before going to print.
"Had the column been received in the morning, all parties could have worked through the issue... The problem we had with his comment yesterday is it's clearly based on a complete lack of understanding of the detail of what's going on.
"What we suggested yesterday was 'let's have a discussion' and our chief executive James Sutherland rang and left a message asking Andrew to give him a call," he said.
Young said Sutherland would give Symonds a full picture of the issue and try to convince him that CA wanted its contracted players to participate in the IPL.
"As James will explain to him, there are complicated issues including issues that relate to protecting Symonds' own position under existing contracts that we need to resolve and hope that we can resolve," Young said.
Symonds had criticised administrators for not allowing the players to sign with the IPL.
"We can't quite work out what's going on with the chiefs at Cricket Australia, who seem to be trying to run interference by putting up a heap of red tape," Symonds wrote in his column.
"To be brutally honest, as players, we just can't understand the stance they've taken. We're all keen to have a hit if the tour of Pakistan gets called off, but Cricket Australia has played what looks like a bit of a trick shot," Symonds said.
He also dismissed the suggestion that a possible conflict of sponsorship interests was at the centre of CA's predicament.
"It's my understanding Cricket Australia are trying to say that Aussie players can't play for teams who are sponsored by competitors to Cricket Australia sponsors.
"The way I see it, Queensland are sponsored by XXXX and South Australia are sponsored by WestEnd -- but Cricket Australia is sponsored by Fosters. So CA is trying to say that's a conflict of interest and because of that we can't play?"
Young refused to disclose details of CA's discussions with the BCCI over IPL but claimed the Board strongly supported the concept.
"It is not just sponsorship issues. There are a range of issues and the sponsorship issue is far more complicated than what has so far been presented publicly," Young said.
"We are keen to see Australian players participate in the IPL but on the basis that it doesn't compromise future tours or ICC events," he added.
