Cricket lords no more at Lord's
LONDON, Tuesday (AFP) The International Cricket Council
(ICC) confirmed Monday it would be quitting London's Lord's Cricket
Ground, its home for 96 years, and relocating its main office to Dubai
in August.
In a statement, cricket's world governing body said it
would also be moving its financial centre from Monaco to the United Arab
Emirates capital. ICC president Ehsan Mani said: "Over recent years the
ICC has operated from split headquarters, with the cricket
administrative and anti-corruption elements in London and the commercial
and financial operations in Monaco.
"The Board has been committed to unifying its
administration for some time and after considering a range of offers
from around the world, the directors were of the view that Dubai
provided the best way forward for the international game," the Pakistani
head of cricket's world governing body added.
"The package on offer to relocate the ICC to Dubai was
very attractive and preparations are now in an advanced stage to move to
the Emirate in August this year."
Initially, the ICC will be located at Dubai Media City
for two years before building and occupying its own premises in Dubai
Sports City.
The move follows the ICC's decision to base its Global
Cricket Academy at Dubai Sports City and sees the organisation become
the latest global sporting body to quit the UK, after athletics, rugby
union and badminton among others, because of tax reasons.
Six other site options were discussed in June at the
ICC's annual general meeting but on the eve of the vote UK Sport,
Britain's national sports funding agency, at the behest of Lord's owners
Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), intervened with a letter that stated the
British government would be prepared to grant concessions.
However, when the budget statement was made, these were
not mentioned and UK Sport subsequently wrote to the ICC to apologise
after certain cabinet members objected to granting special status.
Mani, an accountant by profession, said that while the
ICC appreciated its links with the 'home of cricket' where it has been
based since its creation as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 with
England, Australia and South Africa the original members, it could not
ignore financial realities. "Clearly, crickets deep association with
England and particularly Lords as the historic home of the sport was a
factor that weighed heavily in the Boards discussions on this matter.
"Nevertheless, like many international governing bodies
before us, it is clear that operating in the United Kingdom under the
current system is not in the best interests of our members.
The ICC's move will be seen as a further confirmation
that Asia, where huge commercial and television deals based on the
overwhelming popularity of cricket in the Indian sub-continent help
finance the global game, is now at the hub of world cricket with the
likes of England, where MCC ran the ICC until the late 1980s, no longer
in charge.
Hopes that the ICC would remain at Lord's, in a modest
office behind the stands at the Nursery End of the ground, were dealt a
blow in December when Britain's sports minister Richard Caborn said he
wanted to discuss the ongoing cricket crisis in Zimbabwe with the ICC
"when they were next in town."
Mani replied at the time that Lord's, situated in the
north-west London suburb of St John's Wood and just a few miles away
from Caborn's Westminster office, had been the home of the ICC since its
foundation. |
