Ramnarine accuses board of "unilateral decision-making"

Dinanath Ramnarine has reacted strongly after WIPA was left out of a sponsorship discussion © Getty Images

The ongoing tussle between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) continued yesterday with the WIPA accusing the board of "unilateral" decision-making.

In a media release signed by president and CEO Dinanath Ramnarine, WIPA criticised the regional board for "this unilateral process that the WICB continues to insist on taking in deciding what is to be or not to be...", which WIPA "cannot accept".

Ramnarine was referring to Monday's announcement by the WICB that they had agreed to a five-year extension of the current sponsorship contract with Digicel, until 2012. The deal is reportedly worth US $4 million "without any deductions".

The statement said that: "while WIPA is pleased to know that the West Indies Cricket Board is always looking for ways to improve its finances through its sponsors or any other company", the lack of consultation with the players was a blatant breach of the MOU [Memorandum of Understanding] between both parties.

Ramnarine added: "This [recent unilateral action/absence of consultation] by the WICB continues to undermine the maintenance and strengthening of good relations between both parties. Furthermore, WIPA is now forced to pay more careful attention to the protection of the players' intellectual property rights," the release continued.

The WIPA head referred to Article 11 of the MOU, which he said made it "quite clear" that "prior consultation with WIPA is necessary before any such sponsorship agreement is signed".

"It would appear," Ramnarine stated, "that WICB chose to ignore advising WIPA of its intention to re-negotiate with Digicel. Having come to an agreement without consulting with WIPA, the board decided to make the deal public and as an afterthought, stated that WIPA would be forwarded a copy of the agreement for its perusal."