Further to this posting and previous postings involving Zimbabwe, the England cricket tour of Zimbabwe, etc., this story is the kind of reason why I am not that bothered about this apparently very stupid cricket tour that is now going ahead. No tour, and there would be that much less reportage of Zimbabwe and its disgusting ruler. What has happened is that about half the media have been banned from entering Zimbabwe, to write about the cricket! I suppose the fear is that they might wonder what all that shouting and screaming and people bashing is that goes on outside cricket grounds (and everywhere else – except in Safari parks apparently, see the comment on that previous posting) in Zimbabwe these days.
All the same, the ICC, cricket’s global governing body, is making itself look ever more ridiculous:
For most countries, intervention from the government in this manner would be grounds enough for withdrawing from the tour but the ICC gave Zimbabwe special dispensation because of the situation in the country under the regime of president Robert Mugabe.
Well, exactly. A normal government cannot be allowed to behave like this. The Mugabe regime, on the other hand, must obviously be spared the interfering attentions of inquisitive journalists. How else can this disgusting regime grapple unhindered with all of the many, many problems caused by its own disgustingness?
I posted about this on my own blog. It is a disgrace which brings shame to the ECB and the England players that they haven’t called it off immediately. And a travesty the government have not the testicular fortitude to tell the ECB they can pull out.
Gosh! ‘Ol Bob is getting paranoid isnt he?!!Perhaps he thinks those cricketing correspondents may just get a look at what Mr Mugabe is getting up to on the rest days — and tell the world about it.Little things like genocide, starvation black racism, theft rape and murder. Why the fuck are we playing this tour at all!!!??? On humanitarian grounds we should not be there at all!!!!! Jesus, even on Cricketing grounds, my old school eleven could beat Zimbabwe so what is the point?
I do not suppose we can expect any better from Mugabe, whose thuggish nature and general barbarism is agreed. But what is really disappointing is the ICC’s willingness to go along with this.
I see the ICC CEO, Malcolm Speed, as the ‘evil genius’ behind all this. Although ‘evil’ is giving too much credit. The man is amoral, purely and simply.
The notion that there might be a moral issue in this case simply does not occur to the man, and he wishes those of us that do care about these issues would just go away.
This tour should not have gone ahead. One has to ask how much money has changed hands and under what circumstances. The ICC and the ECB have a lot to answer for. Still D. Morgan of the ECB gets a winter holiday and it will be in the best hotel, why worry about the wreck that was Zimbabwe!
According to Wisden Cricinfo, the Zimbabwean government has been choosing the last few days to pass the vilest new pieces of legislation. Unfortunately I can’t find a source that tells us what they are… does anyone here know?
I’m glad to see the flight has been cancelled, but we simply cannot countenance going ahead with this tour. Mugabe said “this tour is about cricket, not about politics”. Bollocks. If it was just about cricket, the journalists would be in the country.
The ECB is much less the villian then the ICC in my book- sure the ECB did make some mistakes, but in this case, the ICC is threatening them with severe financial penalities if they do not tour.
The ICC is a disgrace. There is not even any good commercial reason to force England to do this; it is not like the television rights are worth a dime.
Presumably, the BBC were banned from Zimbabwe because of their racism. Funny, I thought Mugabe was racist too. They ought to get on rather well together.