Let poise, rationale and decency be your guide

The inevitable has occurred and the executive of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Cricket Association has been called to answer the many areas of discontentment which affiliates have listed as transgressions.{{more}}

Such fallouts and allegations, which have come via a petition, which in essence is a measure of no confidence, have triggered a special general meeting tomorrow, Saturday, May 24, at the Media Centre at the Arnos Vale Playing Field.

It is obvious that many are dissatisfied with the performance/operations of the executive, but militancy may not necessarily have to be transformed into a raucous degeneration of morality.

Whilst this may be the correct means of redress in the search for truth, such public ventilation of concerns must be tempered with poise, rationale and decency.

Affiliates can erode their legitimacy by going overboard with their comments and accusations, hence the desired objectives and proper reasoning can evaporate in the melée.

The norm at such meetings is for persons to go the route of character assassination, unearthing of old secrets, along with the re-opening of unhealed wounds inflicted by their foes many moons ago.

Be that as it may, the executive should take the meeting as a cue that there are vanguards of their stewardship who will use scrutiny rather than antagonism to ensure that things go in the direction that they ought to.

More so, president of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Cricket Association Julian Jack, who has been in the firing line and the chief practice target for those who oppose him, should step back and look inwards.

Too much is stacked against Jack, as the many affiliates who have bravely inked their signatures to the petition have shown.

Significantly too, it appears that he does have the unwavering support from within his own executive in the happenings, which is crucial to the stability, confidence and decision making fabric of the association.

Jack should reflect on the fact that it was just over a year ago that he was returned unopposed for the third successive term, as he pursued his fifth two-year stint.

What has gone wrong since that, so that the administrative ties have severed to the point of disrepair?

As head of the organization, Jack has more to lose than to gain by sticking it out.

He has found himself between a rock and a hard place as the dilemma looms large.

Should he survive the vote of no confidence, can he still work with those who oppose him and regain their trust, even from the other members of his own executive and vice versa?

If there are fresh elections, should Jack face the polls amidst all the happenings?

All lumped, Jack has presided over the worst period of cricket administration in recent history in St Vincent and the Grenadines, some of it no fault of his, as they came with the territory.

It then stands to reason that the best bet for Mr Jack is to take an express trip on the caravan of the moral high road and resign and allow others to take the mantle of leadership.

We are living in an iniquitous period when you are hero today, and in a twinkling of an eye, you become persona non grata. That is the level of intolerance that permeates the current times.

But out of this should come some good, despite the casualties and injuries to persons’ status.

The bigger picture is that other national sporting executives would be guarded that the tenures are such that they may not be unceremoniously dumped into the annals of inefficiency and incompetence.

For the cricket association, whatever the outcome of tomorrow’s meeting, the sport would have to rebuild its image, its stature as the “gentleman’s game.”

If a new executive is commissioned at a later time, or an interim committee is installed, then whosoever takes over the rein of leadership should take the teachable moments and avoid the pitfalls of his/her predecessor.

But would anyone really want to carry around the “bamancoo,” which clearly is what the presidency of the association is at this juncture?

Whatever is to be done must be done soonest, as St Vincent and the Grenadines is set to host the Windward Islands Under-19 tournament next month and a test match in September.