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So far Kumar Erramilli has created 168 blog entries.

Golf finishes way ahead, on Even Par!

Shaun Martyn, FairBreak Founder

Who would have thought that a game so steeped in tradition, rules and regulations would move so positively and inclusively?

It was only a few years ago that women in golf clubs were associate members, not full members, and had the competition days they could play restricted.

Now they play in all competitions at all times as full members of golf clubs. The game and golf clubs are all the better for it.

Then along comes Golf Australia Victoria (@GolfAustVIC) and the ISPS Handa Vic Open and demonstrates not only parity of esteem, but also parity of PAY; Men and Women sharing the prize money equally.

This was an outstanding event on every level. Spectators were treated to some of the best players competing on an equal stage. No one player more important than another.

The players loved it, because if you are a true golfer, you know it’s about the game, the course, the personal challenge and the skill. Gender plays no role.

The symbolism of no ropes on the course restricting the movement of players and spectators was not lost on anyone either.

If only other sports could take a lesson from this.

2019-02-13T00:14:19-05:00February 13th, 2019|News|
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Women’s World T20, 2020. A numbers game.

Shaun Martyn, Founder of FairBreak Global

I have taken great interest in the announcement surrounding the Women’s and Men’s T20 World Cups to be held in Australia in 2020.

What a great opportunity for the game.

When you look at early advertising and the make up of the competitions it raises a few questions.

Although it might be commendable to try and set a crowd record for a women’s sporting event, is that where effort and attention is best spent?

It was obvious at the end of the World Cup in 2018 that the gap between the top 2 or 3 nations and the rest of the world has increased, not decreased.

It may be a bold prediction but I would expect the women’s final at the MCG on March 8, 2020 will be contested between Australia and England. They are so far ahead of the rest of the pack it’s daylight third. If this is the case for the foreseeable future, what plans are in place to close the gap?

The men’s competition will be fought out between 16 teams. The women’s competition has only 10 teams. Why?

Can we please have parity??

If the women’s game is constantly presented as less valuable by the ICC and Cricket Boards then we will never achieve parity.

We saw this only last month in Australia when the WBBL final was played at 10.00am on a Saturday morning at a suburban Sydney ground.

CA erred massively here, again presenting women’s cricket as a less valuable, inferior product.

If you consistently signal that your product lacks value, how can you hope to break records?

There needs to be a massive reset.

We know that women’s cricket attracts a huge audience globally. 126 million viewers (ICC figures) watched England play India at Lords in 2017. That’s an enormous amount of advertising revenue.

Cost, therefore, can’t be a factor in only having 10 womens teams in the T20 World Cup.

How much money does each team receive for qualifying for the world cup?

Is it equal for both the men’s and women’s teams?

Hypothetically, if teams from Botswana, Thailand, USA, China, PNG, UAE, Holland, Vanuatu etc. qualified to make up 16 women’s teams, then that would be one step towards parity.

An injection of $500K US into the women’s programs in each of the 16 qualifying nations would move the women’s game forward in a very positive manner. The money is there.

Is there the will to drive towards parity and serious development of the women’s game, or is still a case of paying ‘lip service’?

2019-02-04T02:17:38-05:00February 4th, 2019|News|
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If not pay parity then at least parity of esteem please!

Shaun Martyn, FairBreak Founder

Firstly, let me congratulate the Brisbane Heat for their victory in the WBBL. Let me also congratulate all players from all teams that took part in WBBL 2018/19. Women’s cricket in Australia has really become the shining light in the game.

The distressing piece for me is that the final of this remarkable competition was played at 10.00am on a Saturday morning to accommodate the broadcast of a Day/Night (men’s) Test match.

Usually the only thing on TV at 10.00am are cartoons, or while some parents are getting children to Saturday sport many adults are heading to their own sport or shopping, or engaged in the myriad of tasks that fill most Saturday mornings in Australia.

Can someone explain to me why this WBBL final could not have been played on Saturday evening at North Sydney Oval? A ground that has become the spiritual home of women’s cricket.

There are numerous public transport options, it’s the right size, has considerable history and a 7.00pm match start time acknowledges the quality and esteem this game and the players participating should be afforded.

The fact that there is a Day/Night Test match on at the same time is irrelevant.

In fact, there would be many viewers who may prefer to watch a WBBL final. Is that something that CA and the broadcaster don’t want to risk? Would the comparison of viewing numbers reflect a significant change in the value of the two products?

In future, I hope due consideration is given to the schedule so there is parity of esteem even though we are still a long way short of parity of pay.

2022-04-29T15:30:58-04:00January 28th, 2019|News|
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Inclusion and opportunity in cricket

“Shaun Martyn and his team at Fairbreak should be recognised for their work in encouraging CA to push the women’s game forward. The skill of the players and the quality of the product has done the rest.” – Geoff Lawson for The Sydney Morning Herald article, ‘Given a Fairbreak, the WBBL has shown its true value‘

This article discusses the state of play of Australian women’s cricket, including the role of FairBreak in “lead[ing] the way with ideas and ambition, and CA cleverly followed”. There is still so much to be done to truly show support for women’s cricket as a national sport and team equal to that of Australian men’s cricket. Why is it taking so long?

Read the full article here and let us know your thoughts on Twitter – @fairbreakglobal where we’ve also shared the article.

FairBreak Global XI at Wormsley Estate for our International Women’s Day match in 2018
2019-01-26T22:10:30-05:00January 26th, 2019|News|
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Hype or Performance?

I have no issue with words like HIGH, PERFORMANCE, ELITE or HONESTY, CORE or BUSINESS when used individually.

I now have a huge problem when they are used together.

Once the ‘Elite Honesty’ term came to light with Australian Cricket I started to question some of the language I had also been using. I realized that I too had allowed myself to be sucked into the black hole of meaningless double speak.

I have often referred to High Performance (HP) but what is that? What does a manager of HP do? What is a HP department?

If you google HP this is what comes up,

“a concept within organization development referring to teams, organizations, or virtual groups that are highly focused on their goals and that achieve superior business results.”

Don’t we want this for everyone and for every department within a business? I certainly want our accountancy team and our legal team to be achieving ‘superior’ results. What about sales and marketing, design, IT and distribution? Oh, and what about the BOARD?

Who’s the manager of mediocre performance or poor performance?…you see where I’m going with this.

It’s meaningless.

What is Elite Honesty? Who comes up with this stuff? I can’t imagine what it must be like to walk into the dressing room as an Australian player and see Elite Honesty emblazoned on the walls, as was the case recently in Perth. Surely the measure of performance should be runs, wickets, catches, fairness, effort, competition and respect. Isn’t honesty enough, how do we be elitely honest?

I’m starting to understand what Yogi Berra, the NY Yankees catcher and manager meant when he said, “Baseball is 90% mental and the other half is physical.”

Meaningless doublespeak is everywhere. There’s Fake News, Core Business even in education we had ‘Functional Gramma’for a while, now it’s the 4 C’s? What’s the next? ‘box ticking’ exercise?

When I think about all of this plus the list of acronyms I no longer understand and the Business of FairBreak I’d like our organization to be kind, caring, respectful, fun, game changing, challenging, enlightening, profitable, supportive, inclusive and equal.

I want the people in it to own it and help shape it; I want it to be their Ship.

I don’t know if any of that is in a HP manifesto. The only ones I’ve seen have a lot of boxes to tick.

From now on I will only say, ‘I work with people’. HP be gone….. #elitehonesty

“You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going, because you might not get there.” Yogi Berra

Was Yogi talking about High Performance departments? I’m starting to think he was onto something…..

 

 

 

2018-12-04T07:34:06-05:00December 4th, 2018|News|
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Mind the gap

– Shaun Martyn, FairBreak Global founder

 

First of all, big congratulations to the Australian Women’s Cricket Team for winning the WT20 on the weekend.

A completely professional performance.

The big takeaway from the whole World Cup is that the gap between Australi

a, England and India, and the rest of the world has grown larger, not smaller.

There is a lift in overall standard of play, however that has not closed the gap in relative terms.

I was interested to hear Melinda Farrell from ESPN interviewed from the West Indies and hear her say exactly the same thing.

This is an opinion shared by many.

Australian and English players are better funded and supported and, consequently, are ahead of India and a long way ahead of everyone else.

The opportunity that the WBBL and Kia Super League has provided has meant there is more frequent, high level cricket played in both countries.

In Australia, that extends to the state system as well, where players can have their income supplemented. This allows them to train, play and commit to the sport for a longer period of time.

If there are not more opportunities created and more funding provided globally, I believe we will see a drop off in participation rates around the world.

I also refer you to the interview on Twitter with Ireland Captain, Laura Delaney, after their defeat by Pakistan, and the subsequent follow up from Mariko Hill and others about the vital role FairBreak plays in creating opportunities.

Ireland has now had four players retire after the tournament in the West Indies. Most of the players have had to take over 60 days leave from work in order to represent their country and it is no longer sustainable for them to continue.

Apart from their attitude and commitment, they are not ‘professional’ in any way.

Ireland, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh for example, need to be playing against each other regularly and being paid a real ‘living’ wage in order to do that.

It’s not a level playing field.

Expectation of professionalism is one thing. Real funding and remuneration for full time professionalism is another. And that what is required if we want a real World Cup.

 

 

2018-11-27T10:05:44-05:00November 27th, 2018|News|
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Australian cricket: ‘In my office now, boys!’ – Shaun Martyn on the current state of play

In 1984 England were getting smashed by the West Indies and everyone was looking for England and their leadership to make excuses for performance. England captain David Gower on being interviewed during the series said, “It is a Test match. It’s not Old Reptonians v Lymeswold, one off the mark and jolly good show. You are not expecting life to be made easy for you.”

If only that attitude prevailed at the moment in Australian cricket.
Gower was not looking for excuses; he and his players would deal with the problems and be judged on how they handled themselves. In reflecting on the release of the Longstaff review and the fallout from it, things just have to change.

The Chairman’s position has now become completely untenable and he has resigned. Unsurprising when you profess to have good governance and at the same time orchestrate your reinstatement prior to a review being released. Laughable!

The whole credibility of the board has been in question. Appointing someone from the current board as Chairman is also impossible from a governance perspective. This board has presided over this mess.

What equally amazes me is that the State CEO’s have the ability to start the process of fixing this mess. Why don’t they?

They seem to be complicit in condoning the behaviour called out by Longstaff.

I think it speaks volumes for the leadership in cricket across the board.

When you have organisations that are not accountable they can do whatever they like. There is no accountability! I was disgusted by the responses by the CA Chairman on the ABC’s 7.30 Report when his notion of accountability was that CA had voluntarily instigated a review into what is now being referred to as a “hiccup” in South Africa.

That “hiccup” reference said it all. It demonstrated mammoth incompetence and a complete and total lack of understanding of the game, its relevance, its history or its future.

As a result of the Chairman’s resignation it may now be possible for Kevin Roberts, the new CEO at CA to make some headway. It will depend on how the board reacts and the appointment of the new Chairman.

In my one brief exchange with Kevin Roberts I found him to be very open and thoughtful. He has a huge task and needs clean air.

The ACA are not adding anything positive to the debate at the moment either.

Regardless of whether you think the bans on Smith, Warner and Bancroft are too harsh or not, they are there and need to be served. Banging on about lifting the bans just alienates more of the public and reinforces the widely held view that the male players are indulged.

Grown men conspired to cheat in an environment that encouraged it and then lied about it. Fact. If there were older and wiser heads in that dressing room in South Africa it would never have happened. The fact that the coaching and management staff is still largely in place also speaks to the integrity of the whole set up.

We have seen this week the ACA publicly setting up another adversarial situation.
If the Australian team was performing better at the moment lifting bans wouldn’t even be spoken about.

The ACA have sought far too much media attention in this. They should be working quietly, negotiating responsibly, and with the best interest of the fans, the players and the game.

Cricket is a game of partnerships and good partnerships are built with trust, time, consistency and leaving your ego at the door or in the dressing room.

At the moment it feels like both CA and the ACA should be called into the headmasters office and suspended until they come back, with their parents, to be told by David Gower to start acting responsibly both in class and in the playground!

 

2018-11-01T10:34:47-04:00November 1st, 2018|News|
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Support for FairBreak’s vision

Suzie Bates, Charlotte Edwards, Lydia Greenway and Mike Gatting share their support for FairBreak’s vision of a world where people have fair and equal access to opportunities that enable them to succeed in their chosen endeavour, independent of gender or geographical location.

This video was filmed during our Inaugural Day of Gender Equality at Wormsley Estate on 30 May.

2018-08-20T07:28:27-04:00August 20th, 2018|News|
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The day we made history – Inaugural Day of Gender Equality

On May 30, we launched our Inaugural Day of Gender Equality with a world first cricket match at Wormsley Estate in the UK between the Sir Paul Getty Women’s XI and the newly formed FairBreak Global XI.

The energy level was high with excitement, nerves and gratitude felt by our players from around the globe meeting for the first time, some having experienced their first ever international flight to get to the event from our players, and the FairBreak global team who have been working tirelessly to bring to life the FairBreak vision of gender equality.

The day kicked off with a summit involving key advocates for gender equality and supporters of FairBreak who participated in a robust discussion about what can be done globally to progress gender equality. We are eternally grateful to those who shared their insights and thoughts around tackling major issues including equal pay and governance.

This was followed by our FairBreak XI taking on the Sir Paul Getty Women’s XI in an exhibition T20 Cricket Match. The T20 Match was a world first, achieving a number of milestones including:

  1. The first time a women’s cricket team has comprised women from 10 countries across 5 continents
  2.  The first time the Sir Paul Getty Foundation had fielded a women’s team at Wormsley Estate – now known as “Sir Paul Getty’s Ground”
  3.  The first time a global team of female cricketers had the opportunity to connect with like-minded athletes from across 5 of our 7 continents
  4. The first time a match of this nature has been livestreamed and freely accessible for fans across the world to watch

The inaugural FairBreak XI team comprised of players from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, Oman, Singapore, USA, Vanuatu and West Indies.

To learn more about the key highlights from this initiative, check out our recap video below. We’ll be sharing more content from the day and our inaugural team of sensational women who made the day possible.

We are excited about the road ahead and can’t wait to see how far this ripple will reach. Onwards and upwards!

2020-01-17T11:34:11-05:00June 28th, 2018|Events, News|
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