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Brancker blasts World Cup committee members

Rawle Brancker blamed Chris Dehring and Teddy Griffith as being the main reason for his resignation

Cricinfo staff
09-Sep-2005


Rawle Brancker finally speaks out © Getty Images
Rawle Brancker, who stepped down as chairman of the Cricket World Cup committee last week, blamed Chris Dehring, MD of Cricket World Cup West Indies, and Teddy Griffith, a former president of the West Indies board, as being the main reasons for his resignation.
"I would never wish to be in a position where Dehring makes it a 'you or me', and I must admit that neither was I comfortable to be sitting around the table with Teddy Griffith," Brancker told the Barbados-based Nation, "because, if you remember, [Ken] Gordon announced that Teddy was appointed a member of the Cricket World Cup board after he resigned as president.
"And given the experience of attempts to remove me, together with the fact that Teddy has presided over West Indies cricket at its worst, I could neither trust or respect his opinions, so considering those factors, I said goodbye."
Brancker, who was associated with the committee for two years, also accused Dehring of failing to introduce more transparency in the committee's operations. "Let me solemnly state to you that if the transparency, accountability, and the best practice that I insisted upon, on behalf of the board of Cricket World Cup, are too much for Dehring to live with and some board members cannot see that he should go, then I am gone. I have no place in that company."
Brancker also warned against relying too much on Dehring. "I don't think he is the only person who can now deliver the best World Cup ever," he continued. "I think the people who will do that and the people who have planned to do that are the brilliant local organising committees [LOCs] we have in place. The LOCs have planned a water-tight World Cup and once they execute it in the way it is planned, it will happen and happen well. This marvellous game of cricket and its World Cup are much bigger than any one of us and it is going to happen with or without us."
Dehring, however, remained undeterred with Brancker's comments, and assured his commitment to the 2007 World Cup. "My focus is on the Cricket World Cup and delivering this event," he continued. "I have worked alongside the International Cricket Council, the Global Cricket Corporation, the West Indies Cricket Board, CARICOM governments and every day I have that constant workload. I just have to focus on that workload. With 500 days to go I can't spend the day with peripheral issues."
He further added: "If I allowed personal things to impact the World Cup then I wouldn't be a very good manager. I just have to remain focused to deliver. I had very healthy relationships with Mr Brancker and the entire board. I don't have any ill will towards anybody."