Sydney: More officials have to be held accountable for the financial turmoil that Cricket Australia (CA) has been going through, according to World Cup-winning former captain Allan Border. Kevin Roberts has resigned from the position of Chief Executive of CA. But Border feels the CEO alone cannot be responsible for the crisis.
"You can't just lump it all on Kevin Roberts. Surely there's other people, particularly the directors of the Australian cricket board. Where's their culpability in all of this?" Border said.
"It was only a couple of years ago we had a couple hundred million dollars in the bank, then all of a sudden we're broke by August this year?
"I just can't quite work it out. We're in off-season as a sport, and all of a sudden we're losing money hand over fist from a very strong position just a couple of years ago. I just can't work out where all the money's gone," he said.
Cricket Australia's troubles is part of a wider financial crisis that Australian sport is going through. Roberts is the third CEO of a major Australian sports body to have resigned in the past two months after Todd Greenberg (NRL) and Raelene Castle (Rugby Australia).
"There's a huge television rights deal. That should be enough to cover expenses, surely, from year to year. To me it just doesn't ring true that you can be in such a strong position one minute (and then this)," said Border.
"So at the end of last season where were we at financially, and the start of next season hasn't happened yet – so what's happened in the meantime apart from sacking lots of people? Where's the money gone?"
The 64-year-old said other officials who were involved in decision making also need to be made accountable.
"Kevin Roberts has been the CEO through that time … (but) some of the directors have got to be squirming at the moment. At the end of the day they sign off all those financial decisions," he said.
"It's not just the CEO. There's got to be some others that fall on their sword as well."
