Ceylon Today Editorial

Marketing cricket the wrong way

03 September 2016

It is no secret that the change of name from Sri Lanka Board of Control for Cricket to Sri Lanka Cricket which sounds better on something wanting to be a private organization. That is exactly the explanation given to the public by then President of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Thilanga Sumathipala, who said that cricket would be run as a business. It has been run since under many heads that took charge of this organization, which now has hit bottom rung financially and is on borrowed funds. The following excerpt from a press release by SLC explains what led to this debacle: 'The Financial Crimes Investigations Division (FCID) of Sri Lanka Police has commenced investigations against eight individuals including the former Minister of Sports over financial fraud alleged to have taken place at Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) since 2010.'

The fourth ODI between Sri Lanka and Australia at Dambulla brought out another aspect to SLC that shows it is still not out of the woods, regards it being run on grounds of an efficient business. This is so while the President of SLC who promised it would be so is now at its helm.

Before a product is introduced to the market, it is thoroughly analyzed to ensure its excellence and that it would be manufactured to satisfy quality as well as quantity. Unfortunately SLC has not been doing its home work at Dambulla before the commencement of the ODI games to be played there. Dambulla grounds could hold up to nineteen thousand spectators whereas there had been around forty five thousand wanting to watch cricket that evening.

At least if they had taken into account what took place during the third ODI which saw crowds hanging on tree branches to take a peek at happenings on the ground, there would not have been reason to focus on that here. The way the Police handled or manhandled spectators who were denied the opportunity to be with their beloved players and follow their favourite game taking place in their own backyard was appalling. Nobody else but the SLC has to take the responsibility for that brutality unleashed on nobody else but their own customers, who were made to go hunting for tickets instead of being properly given access to them to watch the game.

Most of these spectators were from farmer families and may not have had access to a computer or the foggiest idea how to get online and purchase tickets. The game of cricket has been too dependent on the Colombo atmosphere and is in the process of tasting the outstation flavour attached to the game. Dambulla locals who were introduced to watching international cricket events had been denied the privilege of a day-night game for the last six years. And, then to be told, that a ticket they could not see, had been sold out would have been, nothing but a fable to them.

On top of that, when a right of theirs, to express their displeasure on being told that tickets were not available and the way the police handled it could be termed as a sheer breakdown of justice. The marketing theory of taking care of the customer epitomizes the responsibility of a marketer and that never came to play its part in true spirit of the game, here at Dambulla. The cutting down of a tree where the crowds had been perched during the previous game would have put pressure on them in a way. They had to be sitting there on branches of that tree there because the SLC shut them off. Had SLC done their home work they would have put up tiers and made arrangements to accommodate these villagers too, at a price.

The apology made by the SLC in no way prompts to have accepted that these people were denied of their privileges. They were denied access to tickets and were subject to Police brutality. The question arises whether we are on the right path of promoting the game in the remote areas of the country; are they not of privileged classes and is that why they are meted out such injustice? Come on that is not the way cricket was meant to be promoted with a politician heading SLC. Marketing has customers and all have to be accepted as privileged. Customers are lost when they lose privileges, in a democracy.