|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
ICC CRICKET WORLD CUPFebruary 6, 2015Ronnie FlanaganSYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES SIR RONNIE FLANAGAN: Here we are one week to go to what I know will be an outstanding sporting spectacle and one which will attract people from all over the world, people who will pay and have paid big money to come and enjoy that sporting spectacle. What I think is very important is that they can come with confidence knowing this will be true competition between teams fought out on the basis of ability and sometimes a little bit of luck, but a tournament that is free from corruption or the threat of corruption. So what I wanted to do this afternoon was just outline to you very briefly some of the lengths that those involved in the organization have gone to, including my anti-corruption unit, to ensure that this tournament is indeed free from that corruption to which I referred. I think we have to start right at government level, and of course the federal government and state governments here in Australia and the government of New Zealand, amongst other things, have actually passed legislation, which criminalizes manipulating or attempting to manipulate events in a game or cheating or in any way attempting to match fix or approaching others to do the same. It's a criminal offense which can attract up to 10 years imprisonment, and right from that government level and for some two years now, we in the anti-corruption unit have been working with the enforcement authorities, the New Zealand police and here in Australia, certainly the federal police and also the state local police enforcement organizations, and their plans I think have been very rigorous and will be rigorously attended to right throughout the tournament. Of course as is usual, we will be delivering education programs to all the team squads reminding them of their responsibilities and reminding them of the commitment they must strictly adhere to throughout the tournament. Actually in those education programs, they will start with a message from me where I say to the players, this is not in any sense because we don't trust you. We do trust you, but in our line of work, we too often meet and know that there are rotten people out there, criminal people out there, who will do all in their power to connect to players and others of influence in the game. They'll trick them, they'll coerce them, they'll try to attract them. They're almost like pedophiles in how they attempt to groom people into ultimately attempting to do what suits their nefarious intentions in terms of illegal betting and other elements of criminality. We have gone to great lengths in a very multifaceted way to ensure that they don't get their way, and I'm certain the players, the match officials, the support staff and everyone involved will be working very carefully in support of what we are trying to do, and we will be working in partnership to ensure that they don't ever get their way in this tournament. So those planning arrangements have been going on for some two years now. In August, almost two years ago, I signed an official memorandum of understanding with the then commissioner of the Australian Federal Police. I later signed a similar memorandum of understanding with the New Zealand police. We agreed to share our intelligence with them. In rather more limited circumstances but where it's appropriate they will share their intelligence with us. There will be one centralized intelligence hub for the whole tournament in which we will be a part, to make sure that should there be any intelligence which comes to light or comes to hand, it can be immediately acted upon. So I would like to assure you and through you assure the public, particularly the paying public who will come to this wonderful tournament, that they will indeed be coming to a tournament where all of those involved, including the local organizing committee, have done all in their part to make sure it will indeed be a tournament free from corruption or threat of corruption. With that I would just like to throw it open to the floor to give you the opportunity to perhaps ask some questions that you may be interested in a response to. Q. Are you comfortable with the ICC ban on Amir being reduced? SIR RONNIE FLANAGAN: Well, as the person who exercised his discretion to bring that reduction in period into place, I'd better be comfortable with it. Quite recently the ICC board decided that people in such circumstances were -- they had fully admitted their part where they had certainly shown true remorse, where they had acted to help us in all our anti-corruption efforts, including the education programs and all of the rest of it. In those circumstances where the home federation involved gave their prior agreement or exhibited their prior agreement, and where that board of the ICC gave their prior approval, I as chairman of the anti-corruption unit then had the ability to exercise discretion. So I looked at all these things very carefully. I interviewed Amir several times. I had interviewed him in the past, and I'm certainly very satisfied that he met all those sorts of conditions that I've referred to, that he had fully admitted his part and indeed had told us fully what he knew or believed to be inaction apart from admitting his part, that he was very cooperative with us, that he has assisted us with the education program, and I think apart from the message, it's one thing for international athletes and sports people to hear a message from a retired cop telling them what they shouldn't do and what they should be careful of. I think it's altogether another thing getting that message from someone who had been an international player who did fall from grace, who is saying to them, please, don't do what I did. Please don't succumb in the way that I did, and I think that's a very powerful message. I am absolutely comfortable that what has happened in his case, and of course I should emphasize, I have no discretion whatsoever in terms of international cricket. What has happened in his case, and his ban ends on the 2nd of September, is that that ban in place, which was a total exclusion, the only activity he could have been engaged in throughout that ban is to assist our anti-corruption efforts. So the removal of that ban means that he can now engage in domestic cricket under the auspices of the PCB and Pakistan, and that's what has happened, and to answer your question, I'm very comfortable that that's the right thing to do. Q. If he makes a high profile return to international cricket, no doubt his story will be told yet again. From that point of view is that a good thing because it does show what can happen to someone so young and the punishment he's had to go through. If he doesn't return to the international stage, do you think that would be a good thing from the anti-corruption point of view? SIR RONNIE FLANAGAN: Yes, and he has made videos on our behalf that we have shown to players in these education programs outlining exactly how he fell from grace, what it meant to him, describing how when he won his first cap, he slept all night in the shirt representing his country the night before. What it meant to him and his family to fall from grace I think is a very powerful message. Whether or not he ever returns to the international game of course depends on his ability, depends on the PCB, and if he should do and continues to be someone who delivers that message to others that they shouldn't ever put themselves in a position that he put himself in, I think that indeed is a very powerful message. Q. Coming back to this World Cup, keeping up with technology now, we've got these pitch-siders that was almost a late sort of strand taking advantage of team media days. How much do you want to keep up with those who use technology to their benefit? SIR RONNIE FLANAGAN: I think it's a challenge, and we must keep up with technology. You mentioned this question of pitch-siders. Of course it's not a new phenomenon. To my knowledge, I think this was first discovered in Wimbledon almost 10 years ago, which is how the expression court-siders came into being, and what this entailed is exactly what you've described, people taking advantage of the time lapse in broadcast to either place bets, which I think was happening in that first instance all those years ago at Wimbledon, someone actually placing the wrong bets, and now what we're encountering is this idea of giving running commentaries ball by ball in terms of what's happening, so we are very alive to that and we are very vigilant and we have briefed the people involved in security, the people who will be monitoring the CCTV around the grounds what they should be looking out for, and we've found recently, for example, when we've encountered these people, we don't have any power of arrest. The police don't have any power of arrest. But we have encouraged and it's now in place, if you read the ticket that gives you entry to a game, allows you to stay in attendance at a game, it's printed on that ticket that you mustn't engage in the use of technology to give any commentaries as well as outlining the other behavior you must not engage in. What they are doing, sometimes they would allege to us, well, look, I responded to an advert on a website. I'm being paid a daily amount for giving these commentaries, but I have no idea what it's for. We know what it's for. Sometimes it's going back to bookmakers to help them instantly adjust their odds in respect of what by that time is an event so that people aren't betting on a possibility or even a probability, they're actually betting on an event that has taken place. Sometimes they're relaying that to call centers, often in the illegal market in the Indian subcontinent, sometimes they're relaying it to people who are actually then placing bets. So in terms of disruption, if we simply, when we encounter these people, we talk to them, we derive as much from them as we can, we'll have them excluded from the ground, and in this World Cup, that will be accompanied by a banning order in relation to any other fixtures, and the disruption we bring about by that multiplies because the people to whom they will be talking will be talking to other people. We've had instances suddenly in the removal of one person that we know other messages are coming, where has he gone, what has happened to the commentary. So there's a good attempt by us if we're really vigilant and others at the grounds are really vigilant to bring about disruption and those who would want to take advantage of that to then try and make money from what are by that time events rather than possibilities or probabilities. In terms of technology generally, we have engaged the services of a company, Sport Radar, who monitor, in fact, the regulated betting market for us all over the world who will report to us instantly any spikes, anything unusual in betting patterns. For this World Cup working with our colleagues in Cricket Australia, we have an analyst dedicated to looking at all of that data and helping us to determine if there's something in respect of which we should intervene. In terms of how these corruptors go about their business and the approaches that they make, we have to keep in touch with technology. Often these days it's made through social media, so we have to monitor open sources of social media and know what communications and what type of communications are going on. So the answer to your question is, yes, it's a challenge but a challenge we are determined to live up to and to address. Q. You spoke about the terms and conditions of the ticket. (Inaudible.) For the sort of money we're talking about with this type of practice. Do you feel as if (inaudible) bigger deterrent because $1,200 doesn't seem like (inaudible)? SIR RONNIE FLANAGAN: I certainly here would want to commend the governments of New Zealand, Australia, whether it be on federal level or individual state level in creating criminal offenses in respect of corruption and improper manipulation generally in sport, and that's a big step forward. One of the things we are doing is watching this whole question of these pitch-siders. Some of them are much more sophisticated than others. Some of them probably are genuinely giving this without really knowing the sort of web they're feeding into, but one of the things we are determined at the end of this tournament, we will have a very thorough debrief. The Australian enforcement authorities, the New Zealand enforcement authorities will have a very thorough debrief, and I'm certain if there are new aspects of legislation that we think we should encourage governments to consider, and whether the experience from this World Cup is such that we can encourage or offer evidence to other governments in other parts of the world to consider for future international sporting events, that's one of the things working together we're all determined to do, to gather as much as we can through our debrief at the end of this tournament to learn from it for future events, and I think that's very important. But in the meantime, as soon as we begin a word of this growing incidence of people doing this, and of course I think it's true to say that tennis and cricket particularly lend themselves to this sort of thing because every stroke can be an event. Maybe in cricket the loss of a wicket, either through the stumps being hit or a catch, a four or a six, there could be events from every stroke that you could bet on, and similarly with tennis. I don't think that applies to soccer because the sort of events in soccer you might be talking about are a red card, a yellow card, a corner, a goal or something like that, so it's not going to happen constantly in those other sports. So I think we in cricket need to be particularly vigilant. And of course my unit keeps in very close contact amongst others with similar units in all other sports, including tennis, and we work very closely together, share our experiences, share our knowledge, and share our suspicions of individuals because I'm certain these corruptors, these bad guys don't just put themselves in pigeonholes and say, I only deal with cricket, I only deal with tennis, I only deal with snooker. The same people will be seeking to be in operation, I think, wherever they can make money, so it's important that all sports keep in close touch with each other and make sure we learn from each other, and that's what I'm determined to do. Q. Your suggestion that this is quite organized (inaudible) something like that, pitch-siders, court-siders, whatever, there's instances (inaudible) small market advantage, but is your suggestion that (inaudible) organized than that because you've been something that I think is actually heavy -- well, if I can get a small market advantage and betting agencies aren't up to speed with the technologies, that's their problem. SIR RONNIE FLANAGAN: I have no doubt this is feeding into a much more organized network than that, and all I can say to you is I can assure you that our enforcement authorities are live to this. When we know a particular website is used, they'll be investigating Okay. The guy who responds to that website may be unsophisticated and may be at a sort of low level, but let's see who are the guys who are placing these adverts, all of that is the subject of ongoing investigation, and phone numbers that we determine that people are going back to becomes the subject of other and wider investigation, as well. So please be assured this is not something that anybody is complacent about. Please be assured that this is something we take very seriously and are working collaboratively to combat. Q. Is there any intelligence at this stage not necessarily about pitch siding or anything else a little ways out from the start of the tournament? Do you have any intelligence about anything in particular at this stage? SIR RONNIE FLANAGAN: A particular game or -- Q. Just in terms of any particular groups out here that may target betting in the World Cup or anything at this stage that you're weary of, just generally? SIR RONNIE FLANAGAN: Yeah, I mean, we gather intelligence from a lot of sources. One thing that's particularly encouraging to me, of course players know they have an obligation to report to us anything they are even suspicious that might be an improper approach, and over the past say three years we've seen 100 percent increase in those reports. Many of them when we investigate are innocent approaches, but I'm very encouraged that we're getting more and more reports of that nature, and that gives us increased material for intelligence database. We do have people who feed information back to us. Understand that I'm not going to go into the detail of that, but for this World Cup, we have an incredibly sophisticated sharing arrangement, one central hub, where all of that intelligence flows in, is analyzed, and where one common intelligence picture is produced so that we don't have different agencies saying they're giving a different view of the world. On a daily basis, our people will be in there. If it's something to be criminally investigated, making sure that what we have is passed the appropriate investigative authorities to do that, and they'll be working in a reciprocal way to us to make sure that anything is actioned. Q. (Inaudible.) SIR RONNIE FLANAGAN: Sorry, which case are you talking about? Q. The Bangladesh (inaudible) case. Can you talk about what's happening in that? And are you able to reflect on the methods you used in that case? SIR RONNIE FLANAGAN: To reflect on those methods? Q. Yeah. SIR RONNIE FLANAGAN: Yes, of course we reflect and we look at every incident in terms of what can be learned from that incident in terms of the evidence that we gathered. I'm very satisfied in more importantly the people who looked at that evidence in relation to the appeal from the original tribunal, were satisfied that the evidence obtained through the work of the anti-corruption unit was evidence that led to people engaged in corruption being properly dealt with. We will seek to learn from that, and if there are lessons to be learned, make sure that we apply them properly in the future. You would be aware that there is a current review going on within cricket, and that review amongst other things will address how the central unit works much more closely with individual units and individual member countries and shares intelligence and shares knowledge of methodology, methods of operating that they see. One of the early recommendations of that is a drawing up, a refining of all the standard operating procedures, including techniques that will be used, equipment that will be used, and that's already well underway as a process, and lessons to be learned from various things in the past will be documented, have been already discussed, have been disseminated, and will be applied during this workup. Q. What stage is that case at now then? SIR RONNIE FLANAGAN: Well, there was the first hearing of the tribunal in Bangladesh, and then there was an appeal, and I think it's in the hands of the lawyers to consider whether there's any further steps for any further appeal, or whether or not that's appropriate. I'm afraid those considerations are in the hands of legal representatives at present. Q. That must be frustrating, though, since it appears you have very strong evidence. SIR RONNIE FLANAGAN: But I honestly don't feel that it's a source of frustration. We gathered our evidence and presented it. There was a subsequent appeal, whereby some of the decisions of the earlier tribunal were overturned, and any further legal action is still under consideration. So I don't think it's a source of frustration. It's a source of determination to learn from that and put in place practices, policies, procedures, well-documented, well-understood, so that moving forward we're in an even better position for future instances that we might encounter. Q. Just quickly, do you know whether the ICC were asked as part of the Kaneria case whether there was any investigation or reports at the time of that liable action? SIR RONNIE FLANAGAN: No, I think that is a case that's difficult to comment upon because you all know that criminal charges have been preferred. I think a date has been set aside in the autumn for a hearing of those charges in the high court in London, so it's difficult from a sub-judiciary point of view to comment specifically on aspects of the case, but I can tell you this, that we are cooperating completely and thoroughly and fully with the investigative authorities in the UK in this case and will be doing so, as well, with the prosecuting authorities and giving them every assistant that they seek from us and access to all the material that we have at our disposal. Q. Going back to pitch-siders again, I can see how it impacts on book makers and their profits. Can you just explain how it impacts on the integrity of the game of cricket? SIR RONNIE FLANAGAN: Well, I think the danger in terms of its impact in the overall integrity of the game, there are a number of things. First of all, in terms of the ability of a paying customer to sit or stand and enjoy what he or she has paid for can be impaired by people around them constantly on two or three mobile phones or on a laptop, and I think that's important that such people can't be allowed to spoil the enjoyment of other people. In terms of the actual integrity, I think the risk is that this feeds into a wider, more sophisticated network of illegal betting, often in the Indian subcontinent, where betting, of course, in all forms is illegal, but facilitating people to either bet on events which are then known events, or in terms of illegal bookmakers even to adjust their odds, to know that they should be shortening the odds in something which is not an event and not offering any odds in such a thing. I think that's where there is a risk of it being some sort of minor contagion that we will do our best working with everybody else involved in all the planning and all the operational aspects of this World Cup to deal with. Q. Going back to Amir, do you understand the people who say that allowing him to come back to cricket seven months early is sending out the wrong message about corruption? SIR RONNIE FLANAGAN: No, of course I understand, and I've had these discussions with people very close to me whose view I very much and totally respect, but it's a different view from the view that I hold, and it goes to -- we in anti corruption in cricket say very resolutely, we have zero tolerance, and some people have said to me, well, if you have zero tolerance how can this come about. The analogy I draw is one from criminal law. Criminal law, for example, deals with assaults, which range right from a common assault, which is defined as an attempt or offer. I could flick my hand at you and actually miss, not even make contact, and in certain circumstances that could be an assault. That could range in criminal law right through causing actual bodily harm, causing grief us bodily harm, manslaughter or murder. I think you can have absolute zero tolerance of all of that behavior, but it doesn't mean that the same punishment should apply to each incident. The consideration that I gave -- it's my discretion, so I stand by it. I take responsibility for it, in relation to Amir, was after a very rigorous examination of the entire case, very thorough consideration of his personal input and his personal reaction, did he plead guilty, did he admit his guilt, was he truly remorseful for all that he had done? And I was determined amongst other things in coming to my conclusion not to set any precedent that somehow others might take advantage of it, because the timeliness of that admission of guilt and that showing of genuine remorse is important, as well, so that it can't be someone who for some quick relief or benefit retrospectively comes to that position. The process that I went through and the decision that I arrived at, I'm certain, does not set any improper precedent for others. So I fully respect the views of those who say that shouldn't have happened. Personally I'm content in conducting all of those considerations that it was right, that it should have happened in the very limited way that it has happened. He's returned to a level of domestic cricket with no input in the international sphere whatsoever some seven months, and of course his season in his home country won't even allow that seven-month period for actual play. But I think I'm repeating what I said earlier. I'm satisfied that the right thing was done in that particular case, and I'm satisfied that what was done in that case doesn't set an improper precedent in any sense or in any respect for any future cases that might or might not come up for consideration. Q. (Inaudible) anti-corruption video that you showed the players. Among those, will they feature Amir? SIR RONNIE FLANAGAN: This particular package does not feature Amir. Previous ones have featured him. This one starts off, believe it or not, with a note of congratulations to the players and those involved by me wishing that I ever had the talent, that I could be in a position to be coming and representing my country in a World Cup, but then moving on to some other players who have fallen foul and to some outstanding world-class players. The IPL if you remember started the early stages in the UAE, in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, because there were elections going on in India, we took advantage at that time to approach world-class players, and some 20 to 30 of them made clips and videos for us passing on their message, making sure they were exhorting others to keep the game absolutely clean. So this package for this World Cup, and we try to alter it because one of the things I say in my message to them is that I know there will be some of you sitting here today saying, oh, no, here we go again, another boring session, something we've heard before, being told not to do things we wouldn't dream of doing anyway, being warned as if we were somehow under suspicion, and I go on to emphasize that they're not under suspicion, but they must be careful about these people out there, rotten, criminal people who will do everything they can to get at them, who might start with simple words of praise and might offer a small gift and might invite them to parties and might try and get them into compromising positions, may get evidence and photographs of those compromising positions, and thereby I only need you to do one thing, all these sort of things. I'm not in our education program saying that I don't trust the players. I trust the players. But I know there are evil people out there. So the education program goes on then much more importantly to hear from world-class international players giving their view, and in some cases talking thereby to younger, less experienced players of what they must be determined not ever to fall foul of. Q. Was Kevin Pietersen involved? SIR RONNIE FLANAGAN: Kevin is not in this particular -- no. Not yet. Not yet. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|