POLITICAL SHENANIGANS MAR SOUTH AMERICAN CRICKET
By J. Brock (FINN)
Despite all the good will intended, the Falkland Islands Cricket Team will not be participating in the South American Cricket Championships, this year to be held in Santiago, Chile. Dr. Roger Diggle, Team Captain, announced on Tuesday that the team had to pull out of the tournament because of interference by the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The MFA apparently pressured the Argentine Cricket Association to the point that they could have pulled out of the Championship if the Falklands participated. Argentina is a premier cricketing nation. The invitation was given to the Falklands during some friendly matches in Chile earlier this year. This morning, Dr. Diggle (RD) told FIBS:
RD: “We told the Chileans that if there were any difficulties then we would ask them to withdraw the invitation rather than wreck the championship. At first, all was going well and the Argentine Cricket Association were quite happy to be participating in the tournament that we were playing in. But then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs apparently told the Argentine Cricket Association that if they participated, that they would view it very unfavourably. This was relayed to us through the Chileans, who said they thought it was best to withdraw the invitation for us to play in the South American Championships.”
It took courage for the Falkland Islands Cricket Team to accept the invitation from Chile to play in the South American Cricket Championships, with a possible venue against Argentina’s team. And, it took commitment to set up and adhere to training and practice sessions in preparation for the event. This political infringement into the sport comes soon after a very successful Olympic Meeting in Athens, Greece, where people of all political persuasions participated in sport. It is thought that the games would set an example that filtered down to regional levels. In this case the feel good factor that the exuded from the Olympics has been thoroughly thumb-screwed.
