Women's Cricket To Join With The Acb
The Age
Tuesday November 9, 1999
Women's Cricket Australia intends to augment the success of its world champion cricket team by merging its administration with the men's game by the end of 2001.
The amalgamation, outlined in the Australian Cricket Board's five-year plan endorsed earlier this year, would attract more recognition and funding for the successful Australian women's cricket team, WCA's executive director, Sue Crow, said yesterday.
She said the arrangement would also allow the women's game, now run by a handful of people across Australia, to tap into the ACB's resources and expertise.
Development, marketing and sponsorship would be fully integrated, but women's cricket would retain control of its coaching and elite programs, with former Australian bowler Andrew Zesers just appointed as elite programs and development manager.
``We've been talking to the ACB for the past 12 months, going through all the issues and trying to make sure things are right for women's cricket," Crow said.
``The idea is that in developing the game for girls and boys and men and women, we would avoid the duplication of resources, and improve our representation in the broader community."
ACB chief executive, Malcolm Speed, confirmed on ABC radio yesterday that the board was engaged in merger talks with Women's Cricket Australia.
It is following the lead of cricket authorities in New Zealand and England where men's and women's administrations have amalgamated, and also responding to pressure from the Australian Sports Commission, which wants to fund one integrated sport.
Bowls Australia and the Australian Women's Bowling Council are also in the process of completing a merger, and the Australian Hockey Association hopes to amalgamate with the women's game by the end of next year, if it can overcome the financial hurdle created by a Supreme Court ruling against Women's Hockey Australia over a sponsorship deal.
Despite winning four of the six women's cricket world cups, including the most recent one in India, and growing by about 150percent in the past four years, women's cricket struggles to attract sponsorship dollars, crowds and media coverage.
Crow said: ``We are talking about cricket being fair and equitable for everyone. But we are going to be a cost for the ACB ... until we are in a position to attract the crowds and television audiences that they do."
© 1999 The Age