Most histories of the game focus on its pastoral charm, innate beauty and its cast of talented and often eccentric heroes. I’ve read many of those and enjoyed them.
But never before has an author squarely and unflinchingly addressed the governance of the game and exposed how the decisions of a select few have dictated how cricket has developed and the state it finds itself in now. In ‘The Club’ Rod Lyall has filled that gap in the cricketing canon and has done so with relish and aplomb. If you feel you know the game, my advice is reserve judgement on that until you have read this book.
The Review
Many have a naive and misguided assumption that an organisation that governs a global sport would support and promote the game across the world and take decisions on behalf of the many and not the few. Lyall blows that assumption out of the water within the first few pages. He deftly assesses the outcomes and recommendations of the Woolf Review; that having savagely exposed the shortcomings of cricket’s governance; was brazenly rejected by those who hold the power and purse strings in the global game. From this pivotal milestone in the game, Lyall traces the story from the Edwardian, imperial origins of the ICC to the Indian seized cash cow that dictates the modern sport.
For several decades, Lyall has led the call for fairness and merit-based decision making in the game. He along with Gideon Haigh and others have shone a light on the naked self-interest of the richest bully boy full members who have sought to maximise their revenue at the expense of growing the game. This gives ‘The Club’ a cast of pantomime villains whose deeds and decisions become an engrossing tale of shame and infamy, as the rich get richer and the rest eke out an existence on the crumbs that fall off the table. For anyone who loves the game and wants it to flourish, it makes the blood boil and takes the form of an engrossing conspiracy thriller.
The central protagonists are the MCC and the BCCI. In a fascinating first few chapters, Lyall shows how the imperial motives of the founders of the ICC left vibrant cricket nations beyond the empire, most notably the USA, to wither on the vine, isolated and without support.
He also reveals the breathtaking lack of ambition those pioneers of governance displayed. They only existed to schedule games between England, Australia and South Africa. There was no aim of spreading the game. In fact, they spent most of their time looking to exclude and suppress. Cricket’s history is that of an exclusive gentleman’s club rather than an inclusive, missionary drive to spread the game. While some of this will be familiar ground for students of the game, Lyall’s rigorous research provides additional colour from contemporary opinions, press reaction and the broader political climate of the time.
Over time the hegemony of the blazered buccaneers of the MCC and its imperial allies was challenged by India, The West Indies and others. Lyall expertly charts the power struggle that ensued, which eventually led to India’s control of the game’s purse strings eclipsing the founder nations. It is a tale that proves the old adage that money talks!
While the narrative may be too detailed for some tastes, I found the rigorous exposé of this power shift played out decade after decade and decision after decision hypnotic and spellbinding. This is testament to the unparalleled depth of research and range of voices that Lyall uses to punctuate the narrative.
Lyall has focused his cricket writing on global development of the game and brings unique insight into the belated push for new members (or as the ICC would class them ‘markets’) around the turn of the millennium. He shows how the good intentions of the development programme were ultimately thwarted by self-interest and how this made a mockery of any suggestion that advancement of a cricket nation could be based on merit.
He goes at the revenue distribution model like a hyena on a fresh carcass showing how India and others prioritised their own revenue generation over any notion of expanding the game. It is a desperately sad conclusion that the global game exists to make more money for those that already have an excess of riches. When modern cricket is stripped back to its very core, its King Lear on the heath moment of profound reflection, it has become a corporate platform. Truly a Shakespearean tragedy for the best game ever invented!
Final Thoughts
‘The Club’ is a triumph of erudition and scholarship and is a must read for those who are curious about how the game developed and how it is run. Within its 300 odd pages, Lyall not only covers governance and decisions, including through such political challenges as bodyline and apartheid, but also match fixing, changes to the laws, umpiring and much else besides.
However well you think you know the history of the game, ‘The Club’ will give you new insight and fresh perspectives and you will end it with both a deep respect for its author. As well as anger and trepidation about how the game we love is run and how it will face the manifold challenges it faces. You reap what you sow. And that takes us back to the very beginning once more.
The Club is published by Pitch and will be released on 31st March via Pitch, Amazon and Booktopia.
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