Afridi dispute puts PCB's central contract under scanner

  KARACHI: In the end there were no real winners. The dispute between Shahid Afridi and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was settled out of court after influential quarters interfered and managed to make the two parties work out a deal.

The PCB did some face-saving by slapping Afridi with a Rs 4.5 million fine for breaching discipline. In return, the former Pakistan captain was given a No Objection Certificate to play for Hampshire in the ongoing English Twenty20 league.
It wasn't a happy ending for either party.
The Afridi-PCB dispute has triggered a new debate on whether it’s fine for the authorities to abuse their powers to curb the so-called player-power?
It's pretty evident that the PCB did abuse its powers by revoking all the No Objection Certificates granted to Afridi following the former captain's outburst against the Board.
A PCB official confided in Arab News that revoking Afridi's NOCs was a calculated move aimed at assuring the player's presence at a disciplinary hearing in Lahore. "He (Afridi) would never have appeared before our disciplinary committee," said the official. "We revoked his NOCs to make it sure that he returns from England to face disciplinary actions. He did just that," he said.
But is it fair to use such a tactic?
"I don't think so," says Mehmood Mandviwalla, who represented Afridi in his brief court case against the PCB. "I'm sorry to say but our national cricketers are in shackles. They are chained by a central contract that gives the Board unequal bargaining power," he adds.
Mandviwalla is of the view that if the players will properly comprehend the terms and conditions of the PCB central contract, most of them would rebel against it.
"The players have rights. They should understand their rights. They should agitate against the central contract."
The seasoned lawyer also believes that it's the PCB's duty to properly explain the contract's terms and conditions to the players.
According to Mandviwalla, the contract allows the PCB to even block a player's right to earn his living.
"And the Board exploited that power in Afridi's case. He was stopped from playing professional cricket which is one of his basic rights," he says.
Ask Tafazzul Rizvi, the Board's legal advisor, and he will laugh off Mandviwalla's claim that the contract gives PCB unfair bargaining power against its players.
"We are not a bank so there is no issue of who has more bargaining power," he tells Arab News.
"What we have is a proper employment contract which is in written form. The players are not forced to sign it. It is offered to the country's best cricketers and they are given a week to sign it.
"They are free to take advice from all quarters. They are even provided an Urdu translation in case they not understand English," he says.
Tafazzul claims that the PCB central contract, which has evolved over a period of around eight years is quite 'airtight'.
He is of the view that without the contract, it would become impossible for the Board to discipline the players.
"Without this contract, the players will run amok," he stresses.
But Mandviwalla is not convinced.
"They (PCB) will have to make their process more transparent," he says referring to the Board's dispute with Afridi.
"By going to court (against the PCB), Afridi has proved that it can be challenged. I personally believe that the PCB will be more careful in the future. All they should do is improve the contract's terms and conditions. They should give the players more rights."