Bold statement - MacGill unavailable for Zimbabwe

[Doctor]

MACGILL UNAVAILABLE FOR ZIMBABWE TOUR
Oswin Staff Writer - 21/4/2004

Stuart MacGill has opted to make himself unavailable for the Test tour of Zimbabwe for "personal reasons".

The tour is to commence in May, and includes two Tests - MacGill would have been considered a possibility for both Tests.

MacGill,who is currently playing county cricket in England, said he did not believe he could tour Zimbabwe and still maintain a clear conscience.

While Cricket Australia do not plan on canceling the tour due to the current issues surrounding the country, "players with personal concerns will not be forced to tour" according to CEO James Sutherland.

“Our head of cricket operations, Michael Brown, and I have had a number of group and individual discussions with players since before the World Cup and the broad playing group, including with a number who have personal concerns about the ethics and morality of playing in Zimbabwe,” he said.

“We all understand the difficulty and complexity of the issue, but Cricket Australia, the player group and the ACA have agreed that, on balance, playing Zimbabwe cricketers in Zimbabwe is appropriate for the continued development of cricket as a global sport.

“We go there to play cricket with other cricketers to fulfil our obligations to world cricket through the ICC future tours program, and for no other reason.”

Mr Sutherland said he had talked to and understood MacGill’s decision.

"Looking forward, the Australian National Selection Panel will continue to operate under the policy brief of selecting the best available team to represent Australia" he said.

MacGill’s decision not to tour Zimbabwe will not be considered as a factor for future Australian team selections.

MacGill will make a statement at the end of today's play in England (early tomorrow morning Australian time), presumably to outline the reasons for his withdrawal.

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Most will understand "personal concerns" to mean either an ethical dilemma about touring a country with a government supporting racist ideals, or alternatively safety concerns held by MacGill.

It is good to see that the selectors will not make his unavailability for this tour a factor in future selections. However, we've all seen players lose their positions due to injuries and the rise of other players. Martin Love is one example of a player in excellent form who is no longer in contention. Another is Nathan Bracken.

I seriously doubt MacGill's position won't be usurped by another player during the tour - there are too many good players. What if Cameron White performs well, gets a match (unlikely) and performs well (a half century and a 5 wicket haul) - will they still put MacGill in front?

 

[Twizzle]

Yes they will.

The third option is that Stuey is getting a game in England, where as he wont in Zimbadwe.

 

[Doctor]

Whilst I fully support the ICC future tours policy that requires all member nations to play each other on a regular basis, and understand Cricket Australia's obligation to tour, I told them that I was uncomfortable about touring Zimbabwe at this point in time and maintaining a clear conscience.

I have given this a lot of thought over a long period of time, and personally do not believe the situation in Zimbabwe is such that I can tour at this stage.

I don't have ambitions as an activist or political spokesman, and I don’t want to influence anybody else because this is a personal matter based on my own feelings.

I agree with his reasons - I think it is disgraceful Australia is even dignifying Zimbabwe with a cricket tour. President Mugabe will use this tour as a diplomatic tool, to show how civil and rational his country is. But is is merely a fabrication of what is truly going on.

Zimbabwe's three best cricketers have suffered - Andy Flower (top batsman and keeper), Henry Olonga (top bowler) and Heath Streak (top-class allrounder) have all been caught up in ths issue. To Flower and Olonga's credit, they've decided to leave.

People are dying in Zimbabwe, whether we choose to ignore it or not. The white people in Zimbabwe are not just losing their land, they're losing their lives. How many more deaths does it take to make this a newsworthy issue? How many more atrocities are required to make the ICC realise how inappropriate it is to tour a country and become political tools to show the world a fallacious picture of the country?

The world ignored Rwanda - 10 years after that genocide we're still counting the lives lost. Are we going to sit back and let a similar act of terrorism occur again?

Cricket is a game - the important issue is that the world realises how terrible the regime in Zimbabwe is. I applaud Stuart MacGill for his ethics - he will be remembered for having a conscience.

 

[Alan Shore]

*applauds*

 

[Twizzle]

I saw his interview, he seemed sincere about his reason, I therefore retract my previous comment about him not going because he will only be a drink waiter.

There is also talk that other players will follow.

Looking at the Zimbots team, we could send over the Tweed Haads under 12s, so I don't think it will matter who pulls out.

Its the old argument, do you wish to mix sport and politics ?

Some poeple obviously do.

 

[TheParraboy]

Then you get Glen McGrath coming out and saying
"Ive got friends over there and they want us to tour" .....WTF.....
I guess Heath Streak and the other 14 white Zimb's cricketers are not his friends :roll: .

I was reading like 6 months ago that like 400+ "white" famers/people have been slaughtered there. A lot worse by now. If Australia was to slaughter aborigines, how many sub continent countries would tour here? even if they are assured of full security?

When it comes to politics, sport should have no play in it. But when it comes to humanity, why should it be left to politics only ?

 

[0neye]

Mugabe IS A WHITE HATER f**k HIM & HIS COUNTRY 8)

 

[Doctor]

Then you get Glen McGrath coming out and saying
"Ive got friends over there and they want us to tour" .....WTF.....
I guess Heath Streak and the other 14 white Zimb's cricketers are not his friends :roll: .

I was reading like 6 months ago that like 400+ "white" famers/people have been slaughtered there. A lot worse by now. If Australia was to slaughter aborigines, how many sub continent countries would tour here? even if they are assured of full security?

When it comes to politics, sport should have no play in it. But when it comes to humanity, why should it be left to politics only ?

Zimbabwe has state-controlled media meaning that we will never really know the full toll of lives lost and displaced until they oust the dictator. There was an interesting phone-call on the Sunrise show yesterday from a lady who lived in Zimbabwe up until a few years ago. Her parents were killed as recently as a year ago, from memory, and she has other family members who have died. She had to work with a freelance journalist (might have even had to pay him/her) to chase the story up and try to get the story published. Unfortunately with the state-control of media, no media outlet will give the story of her parent's brutal death any coverage.

Here in Australia, the only reference we get to the issues in Zimbabwe are when it relates to a cricket tour. Perhaps MacGill's comments will help raise public awareness of the plight of people in Zimbabwe. I hope other players withdraw too.