Brearley, Flannigan, May Hold Talks On Corruption

Brearley, Flannigan, May Hold Talks On Corruption

Sir Ronnie Flanagan met with Mike Brearley and Tim May to discuss how to combat corruption

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Mike Brearley, Sir Ronnie Flanagan and Tim May have met for the first time face-to-face in joint discussions on how to combat corruption.

The Chairman of MCC’s World Cricket committee, the Chairman of ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) and the Chief Executive of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA) met during the MCC v. Champion County match in Abu Dhabi.

Also in was attendance was John Stephenson, MCC’s Head of Cricket. They had been due to convene during January’s World Cricket committee meeting in Cape Town, but Flanagan was ill and therefore had to contribute to the meeting over the telephone.

Since then, MCC has submitted an anti-corruption report, including eleven recommendations to help combat the problem, to ICC. A central theme of the report was the need for players to fully trust and work with administrators, and consequently Brearley wanted to facilitate a meeting between the ACSU and FICA and establish lines of communication between the two bodies.

Brearley said:

“Cricket will never rid itself of corruption until players own the problem, until every one acts in the right manner if approached, and until they have total confidence in the procedures of the ACSU, including its absolute confidentiality with regard to players who report approaches or suspicions. My belief is that 99% of players hate the threat corruption poses to cricket, and we need to utilise their affection for the game to force out the other 1% and to find ways to stop the few who might be tempted from being lured in.

“Tim and Sir Ronnie are both straightforward people who want to fight the problem and who are able to empathise with each other’s points of view even when different from their own.  One topic that came up was Tim’s proposal that players who are investigated but then not charged have their reputations publicly cleared; Sir Ronnie said he saw real merit in this suggestion and undertook to immediately review ACSU policy in this area.”

All three bodies have pledged to share information and ideas and continue to work together.