Could Aotearoa's Cricketers Find Themselves In Their Own Lockout (Like The Aussies)?
You're at least splashing out on a pie Kane...
Those Aussies have got themselves in a right pickle, haven't they? Not only are Australia's professional cricketers currently unemployed as they chase a more holistic revenue sharing model, players from both State of Origin teams rocked 'RLPA' (Rugby League Players Association) caps earlier this week in a show of support of their own players union as they also show resistance to the authority.
The RLPA has enjoyed a nice rise over the past few years with former player Clint Newton stepping in to lead the charge. Then you Cameron Smith taking charge from a current players' perspective and as long as Smith is holding that responsibility, the majority of NRL players will follow suit.
While there's some super funky similarities between the cricketers and league players, they are angling slightly differently as well. NRL players want the NRL to do a far better job in sorting out insurance for their players who suffer long-term injuries and the NRL's had a rather terrible record of player welfare in that regard, as well as not making the wisest financial moves in a competition that is currently booming.
There are subtle differences but the key point to make before going any further is that as a someone who writes about sport, I'm all for players getting as much money as they can and rallying together to demand a fair share. And for two of Australia's major sports to be in such a situation is encouraging as I've come to lose faith in the leadership of sporting organisations, so to see the players fighting back is wonderful and all power to them.
It's difficult to apply the footy side of things to a kiwi context as rugby league within Aotearoa isn't close to being professional, while #KiwiNRL players and Warriors players fall under the RLPA. So don't forget that when you see headlines about the stand-off between the RLPA, our #KiwiNRL lads and Warriors are part of that. We want the best for anyone who comes out of Aotearoa and plays in the NRL, we want our #KiwiNRL cuzzies to be able to earn as much as they can.
Rugby union is a bit weird because everything seems pretty cozy and the only tricky spot will come when players are sick of the NZRU's strict governance. That works wonderfully well now though and as long as the All Blacks and rugby union maintain such a dominant market share in Aotearoa, there shouldn't be any issues.
Aussie cricketers are reasonably well paid; the top players get a hefty slice of Cricket Autralia's revenue. From what I've read, the likes of Steve Smith and David Warner don't really care about making more money for themselves, Australia's best cricketers are fighting this fight for the domestic battlers and lower levels of cricket.
This battle is getting ugly with both sides digging in their heels. The Australian Cricketer's Association are resisting Cricket Australia's proposal to move away from a revenue sharing model that will see CA share up to $20 million to men's and women's international cricketers.
The main sticking point seems to be that the ACA can see the growth around Australian cricket and that domestic players should be part of any revenue sharing. To me this sounds like CA are trying to keep their own profits nice and healthy, neglecting the players who all contribute to the rise of cricket; Big Bash League consists of more domestic players than international players for example.
I'm just an anti-authority kinda guy and I'll ride with the players on most aspects of any such issue.
We can then apply this to some sort of kiwi context as the current agreement between New Zealand Cricket and New Zealand Cricket Player's Association expires on July 31st 2018. Still a wee way away, although it's coming and as the ACA and CA couldn't find any middle ground leading up to their June 31st 2017 date, the earlier this is sorted the better.
There are some major differences here as NZC - understandably - doesn't make as much dosh as CA, nor does it really have the potential for exponential growth that we have seen over the ditch with the BBL. NZC's T20 competition is a fun time for cricket nerds, yet I'm reasonably confident that (insert fast food sponsor here) Super Smash won't be enjoying growth any time soon.
And that's regardless of how 'family friendly' NZC tries to make the Super Smash and after years of tinkering with a domestic T20 tournament, I've come to settle on the idea of there being a kiwi T20 tournament that then leads into the BBL with the aim to get as many kiwis competing in the BBL as possible. At the moment, NZC is putting the Super Smash up against the BBL which is bonkers.
Instead of Brendon McCullum playing BBL, or Ish Sodhi playing a couple games (and rippin' up), Aotearoa's best cricketers should be able to represent Aotearoa in the BBL - assuming they aren't on Blackcaps duty.
Women's cricket is enjoying a slow, but steady rise in Aotearoa, although we are a long, long way off equality. Before you celebrate equality in Aotearoa, remember that this doesn't really exist and we're all living a bit of a lie. However, women's cricket is trending slowly towards equality and how revenue is distributed to women's cricket at all levels could be a low key major point to keep tabs on.
NZC doesn't put a whole lot of effort into trying to make domestic cricket a self-sustaining entity. It wouldn't be that hard to set up live-streaming at every domestic game, whack a few sponsors on there and move into, ya know, 2017. Instead it's up to the Niche Cache to cover domestic cricket extensively, we do it for the love yo.
There's an obvious reason as to why we get fed a diet of ODI and T20 cricket in our kiwi summers; it makes money. I find issue with that because I love me some Test cricket, but NZC has to make more money at the highest level to be able to fund domestic cricket. No dramas with that, other than the low profile of domestic cricket.
One sticking point could be the domestic contracts which are only for seven months. Life's pretty sweet if you get a NZC contract, but for the domestic battlers, they have five months of the year where they aren't contracted. This is a bummer but reflects the greater situation as NZC isn't banking immense cash and domestic cricketers are only in action during the summer.
It sucks that domestic cricketers have to wonder how they'll get an income for five months. This has a positive twist though as these lads are free to go play cricket anywhere in the world for that five month period, thus making them better cricketers and giving them life experience. Alternatively, these lads have time (or a clear need) to pursue studies or other business opportunities, making them better equipped for life outside of cricket.
I'm reasonably confident that we won't have lockout in Aotearoa come June 31st next year, like we are currently seeing in Australia. That confidence comes from a weird place though as NZC won't have growth (relatively speaking) to match CA's surge in recent years, so kiwi cricketers probably won't find themselves wondering why they aren't seeing a fair distribution of increased revenue. Revenue should rise, just not as drastically as we've seen in Australia.
Until then, enjoy observing what is happening in Australia, not just with the cricketers but also the rugby league players. They're fighting the authority, standing up for what they believe is fair and they aren't taking a backward step when that authority tries to intimidate. We can all take something from that, especially given what's going down around the world.