Big Bash League should wash its hands of Chris Gayle to avoid tarnishing the brand
The Big Bash League needs to end Chris Gayle’s participation to keep its burgeoning reputation with fans and sponsors in tact argues Andrew Woodward.
Australia’s Big Bash cricket is undoubtedly one of the top global sports success stories of the last decade. For a new tournament and a relatively new form of a game, it is only outdone by its Indian counterpart, the Premier League, in terms of success when it comes to sponsorship, television audiences and crowd numbers in grandstands.
Its Australian success is due to pure marketing genius. There’s non traditional city colours and names (like, the Sydney Sixers play in magenta rather than the state colours of blue like Sydney FC and the Waratahs); the pricing to attend a match is dirt cheap – $20 for an adult and $5 for a child; the match goes three hours and not eight hours or five days; it is on every night during a dull time on TV; the commentary is good fun and refreshing and, the on screen presentation is way different (like, you never see a score card and the players are ‘mic-ed’ up).
Did I also mention it is fun, exciting and totally engaging. I am a fan and it has grown on me and many others. It is awesome in so many ways – professionally and personally.
But the Big Bash League is facing its first crisis. What should it do with Chris Gayle?
The first order of business today is for the Melbourne Renegades CEO, Stuart Coventry, to immediately end the contract of one of the best players the beleaguered West Indies has ever produced. He’s crossed a line, kept going and, as it turns out, gone way past the line before.
Cricket Australia has to have zero tolerance for this sort of behaviour. Sponsors, broadcasters and spectators want nothing to do with a serial creep. He has no future in the game in Australia and possibly elsewhere. If Stuart Coventry doesn’t sack him, he himself should be sacked by Cricket Australia CEO, James Sutherland, for inaction.
Gayle’s behaviour on television in Hobart on Monday with Mel McLaughlin was appalling enough.
Then via ABC Grandstand on Tuesday we learned that he’s hit on two female reporters in an unwelcome and intimidating manner at media events in years gone by. Overnight it was alleged that he partially exposed himself to a female staff member during last year’s Cricket World Cup. To borrow a phrase from baseball, three strikes and you are out.
Worse, Gayle last night Tweeted a picture of himself going out partying in Melbourne wearing a Playboy shirt emblazoned with “$EXSELL$”. Yes, really. Cultural differences are no excuse. He just doesn’t get it and has no place in the game in Australia. If you or I did what he did in the workplace, we would be frog-marched out the door by 10 am this morning.
As a crisis manager you only have to turn to page one of your manual on how to deal with situations like this. You have to end it completely, quickly and unreservedly. There’s no middle ground. There’s no probation, suspension or fines (which have zero impact for someone earning $2 million for a month or so work in the Indian Premier League).
And let’s not confuse the issue with a push into women’s cricket or attracting female audiences as a reason for action. That’s not the issue. This is an issue about workplace behaviour.
Ask yourself the following question: As a sports governing body CEO, corporate marketing or sponsorship chief or TV network program director are you ever going to use Chris Gayle in your advertising, promotions, presentation, hospitality or other leveraging activities ever again? The answer is no. He is a player with no future in Australia. So why prolong the pain, end it today. Crisis solved.
- Andrew Woodward is consultant at Partnership Marketing and former head of global sponsorship communications at Visa
Sorry Andrew but a complete overreaction – whilst his comments were inappropriate, I would argue his on-field play and character would attract far more people to the Big Bash rather than those he has put off because of his interview afterwards.
User ID not verified.
Click Bait headlines are just the best…
User ID not verified.
What a completely stupid article. If every sportsperson who said or did something inappropriate there wouldn’t be enough to put a team together.
User ID not verified.
There’s no crisis to solve.
User ID not verified.
Thanks, Andrew Woodward. What planet are you guys living on who think this is an “over-reaction”? http://www.theguardian.com/spo.....are_btn_tw
User ID not verified.
Well said Andrew. Many women back you on this.
User ID not verified.
41 off 15 balls, and the platform for the Renegades most comfortable win yet – there’s no way he’s getting walked. There is a rich history of “brilliant jerks” in cricket, and Gayle is nowhere near the behaviour of Warnie or Peterson – massive overreaction by people selling papers / impression to create cricket’s new (old?) bad boy. Let’s not forget, he’s there primarily to play cricket, not be a platform for advertising. And he’s adding spice and pr, even if it’s for the wrong reasons
User ID not verified.
If Gayles behavior is inappropriate and we are calling for his head, would your cries be not more acceptable if you were also calling for Sharapovas head? She did the same thing to a male journalist in a live interview. You say it is about workplace behavior, so call it all out! Why does she get away scot free and everyone consider it just a bit of fun? Don’t open yourself up to the charge of being a hypocrite. We either believe in what we are saying and apply it equally to all or maybe not say anything at all.
User ID not verified.
Agree. He should be sacked. The $10K fine is symbolic in the wrong way. It is nothing to Gayle. He clearly still thinks it was all a harmless joke, and if this was the first time we could put that down to naivety. But it isn’t. He has serious form for sexual harassment. I’d expect to be sacked for such behaviour, and I’d certainly invoke gross misconduct for any of my team who behaved in such a way. Does it matter that the journalist on the end of this didn’t say she felt humiliated and “just wants to move on”? This is not about someone choosing not to “press charges”. It is about the values of the sport, the employer, the advertisers. It’s about our values in 2016.
That Gayle is still employed by Melbourne Renegades us a disgrace. And CEO Stuart Coventry’s decision not to sack the player is more disgraceful because of what it says about what the club and the sport are prepared to put up with.
I my daughter ever wants to be a sports’ commentator, she should not have to work with such dinosaurs.
User ID not verified.
Seems so many people now want to live in a sterile world where any hint of offence must be obliterated. Talk about an over-reaction.
User ID not verified.
Ok, I agree his behaviour was inappropriate but have a think about this. If the roles were reversed and it was a female WBBL player flirting with a male reporter would we be making such a fuss? Answer…NO!
User ID not verified.
And many of us don’t, Melinda.
(It’s also interesting that you didn’t say “many PEOPLE back you on this”).
User ID not verified.
the Channel 10 commentators who were laughing at Chris Gayle’s comments?
User ID not verified.
Please Andrew get off your moral high ground. Gayle’s comments were disrespectful and ill-advised but the massive over-reaction is ridiculous.
And I can’t help but compare the universal support for Mel when called baby to the complete lack of action when Adam Goodes stands up to himself for being called an ape.
Look at the Footy Show any week and you’ll see much more shameful examples of sexism that what Gayle has done…
User ID not verified.
Barry Humphries says that in his day sexual harassment used to be called courtship.
User ID not verified.
What a complete over reaction. Whatever your view, its the BIG BASH, it aint royalty. This country is getting more and more full of people running around looking to be offended on other people’s behalf. Time to get over it.
User ID not verified.
But that was back in the days before moral puritanism.
User ID not verified.
My parents met in the workplace. My father did pretty much what Chris Gayle did – he flirted with my mother and asked her out for a drink while they were both at work. And he was her immediate superior. This was around thirty years ago. If my father didn’t hit on my mother while at work then I probably wouldn’t exist today. Having known my father all my life, I know his intention was courtship. Would this be considered harassment today?
User ID not verified.
Andrew go back to whatever nanny state you came from. Perhaps we should ask permission to cross the street, or not be allowed to look at beautiful women on the beach, or get locked out of licenced venues at 1.30am. Hang on…
[Edited under Mumbrella’s comment moderation policy]
User ID not verified.
Thank you Andrew for your article. I agree that Cricket needs to protect its image in this situation first and foremost. It has always done a reasonable job of maintaining a decent culture (far and away from the niggling rape and group sex allegations and Nena-Pasadena-we-can’t-do-anything-about-it of the football codes) but I was glad cricket loudly condemned the incident. It would be fantastic if they would kick out Gayle from the competition, alas, I doubt it will happen.
What is tragic, however, is the men/boys (under an umbrella of lad culture) trying to defend sexism from their moral low ground, that because something “doesn’t effect them personally” that it should be “okay”. It’s like same broken Lad argument of “just because I didn’t take the ‘tips’ in Zoo that suggested raping women seriously that it should be on sale for everyone”. What’s sad is that the reason why the behaviour is socially unacceptable needs to be explained to them.
User ID not verified.
If Gayle has a history of this kind of behaviour why was he allowed on air. Surely it is the responsibility of the Exec Producer, Producers and Director of Sport not to allow this guy “on-air”. Sounds like a set-up.
User ID not verified.
Thanks to everyone for the feedback – positive and negative – it has been a good discussion.
So, a day later, where are we at? Well, The Melbourne Renegades and Cricket Australia haven’t done what I suggested and immediately sack him. They’re going through the ‘due process’ with regard to the exposure allegations. Even without this allegation, he should have been punted. Since Monday night’s TV debacle, three women have come forward and very publicly with harassment stories. That’s enough to cal it quits, in my opinion.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports: “Chris Gayle stands to be thrown out of the Big Bash League for good if an investigation verifies that he exposed himself to an Australian woman who was working around the West Indies team in Sydney last year.
http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cr.....m0imo.html
Fox Sports Australia reports: “CHRIS Gayle looks set to banned from playing in any future BBL tournaments in the fallout from his controversial TV interview with Channel 10 journalist Mel McLaughlin.”
Link: http://www.foxsports.com.au/cr.....7699914394
Here are a few responses to the some of the comments:
Coke Monster: Nothing he does on the field makes up for his other nefarious behaviours.
Groucho: No one can claim they have made inappropriate comments, including me. However, this guy appears to be a serial offender and given his status i the game, he should behave better.
More click bait: See Coke Monster. Yes, a few people have spoken about Warne. Warne is a yobbo and a bloke bloke. That’s different to being a serial creep. To your comment about him not being a ‘platform for advertising’ – umm, that’s why he is here….
Niles: OK, Sharapova admired a male reporter’s voice and ’form’ and that was it (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-FIfVfvOMo) . She didn’t ask him out for a drink or call her ‘baby’ with the innuendo and connotation that goes with it. If Gayle had said to McLaughlin something like “I have never met you, I have only seen you on TV, up close you have amazing eyes”, and left it at that, there wouldn’t have been a major problem apart form a bit of tutt-tutting. It went from a clumsy comment to an attempted sleazy pick up on national TV.
Paul: I agree what Sam Newman and co get up to is disgraceful. Thankfully, I think we’re seeing a shift in attitudes to the treatment of women at home, work and elsewhere due to the increased focus on domestic violence. What has passed before won’t these days and I think bad behaviour will be called out and condemned more in the future (and I think that’s a good thing). We still have a long way to go, as we have seen in this incident and in the Jamie Briggs and Peter Dutton political affairs. And I agree, the silence from many on Adam Goodes was terrible (Disclosure: I am a Sydney Swans member).
BrisnEyland and Ken: No, this is about respect for people. This is not about puritanism.
User ID not verified.
We live in the era of mock outrage. Its an emock not an epoch.
User ID not verified.
@Cold did your Dad pop the question on live TV with an audience hundreds of thousands of strangers, and so that colleagues could comment on it in the hearing of that same mass audience?
I am guessing he was more gentlemanly than that. I am guessing he conducted himself in a civilised manner consistent with social norms at the time. I am guessing that you Mum didn’t feel, or appear, humiliated. But we weren’t there.
Yes it is common – arguably, necessary or inevitable – for romance and great relationships to begin at work. Many of us will have had good or bad direct or indirect experience of that – or, like you, are the happy outcome.
But I reckon you and your parents would be able to judge roughly the line [boundaries of the grey area] is/are and not cross it. Crossing that line gratuitously and repeatedly should get you sacked.
Do you agree?
User ID not verified.
I agree and thanks, David, for expressing it so well. It seems we have a long way to travel before some men really understand what “harassment” means.
User ID not verified.
Some women, too, @Barbara, from what I’ve heard recently.
The “Good Life”, or “civil society” is characterised by its distinctiveness from what ethical and political philosophers have, for hundreds of years, called “The State of Nature”. The latter being what non-human animals are closer to in terms of behaviour, unmoderated or modified by more or less shared values.
What was “acceptable” a few decades ago, what was normative, is different from today. And there will always be variable gap between peoples’ perception of “ought” and “is”; between ideal and actual. My belief is that Gayle’s behaviour was unacceptable and that it may have been OK to admonish him and give him a bigger fine if he didn’t have form. But he does have form. So it is unacceptable for his club not to sack him. Cowardly of the club’s CEO.
Is this “mock outrage” Baconstir? Personally, I am not outraged. I am disappointed and puzzled that, in Australia, behaviour like Gayle’s and that of those that have defended the recently-resigned minister, is defended or excused, or their behaviour dismissed as something that’s OK, or to move-on; trivial.
But then I think of some of the role-model thugs in and out of government. Perhaps this is what “mateship” is about? She’ll be right …
User ID not verified.
As per most important issues, this just isn’t as black and white as Andrew Woodward paints it.
Are the comments generally offensive or is it contingent on whether the woman or man (yeah right) actually takes offence to it? Some people love being flirted with and some hate it. Sometimes it’s just contigent on who does it. Should someone be crucified because the other party takes it a different way? Some could argue the clearly light hearted delivery was not at all intended to be intimidating.
Almost 20% of relationships start in the workplace. Do you think that was all just good clean non-flirty fun the entire time? Give it a spell. This exact situation is right in the grey area and Gayle’s head is being placed on a spike just to pacify what looks to be the lesser percentage of morally outraged.
User ID not verified.
I think @David has laid out the distinctions very well, and I agree, it’s not just men who need to be reminded of what behaviour is acceptable and does or not show respect for others.
In this vein, for example, Julie Bishop’s public utterances today on the Jamie Briggs affair were unhelpful: “It was an inadvertent text to a journalist, she has accepted his apology and I think in those circumstances we should move on.” I am always wary of the entreaty to “move on”. Too much reflection might yield too much discomfort.
Women front up in public to excuse or silence a discussion about men’s sexist or misogynistic behaviour has been called “women out front” by social commentator Gail Dines.
The fact is, Peter Dutton’s text message revealed a great deal about the culture he inhabits, and who he sided with in the discussion about harassment. It also made a mockery of his tweet last year: “On this #whiteribbonday & every day, I say violence against women and children is just plain wrong.”
Women – stepping up to call out sexist or misogynistic behaviour even at their own political risk – such as we saw from Sharman Stone earlier in the week, are much rarer, and ought to be commended.
User ID not verified.
Andrew has a problem with due process? Gayle’s a ‘serial offender’? Really, where’s the solid evidence of that? Andrew should sign up for jury service straight away as there ould be no need for the other 11 jurors.
User ID not verified.
As What About mentioned, what does Mr Woodward have to say about them
They were quick to join in the ‘fun’ in their Network10 (sorry Russel) blokey-jokey manner and only when someone on high told them to join the outrage.
User ID not verified.
Hi, OK, here are my final responses on the questions and comments . I will leave this issue at that after this. Thanks for the engagement, Andrew.
Dr Buzz, yes, it is not what is intended, it is how it is received. That’s the number one ‘premise’; of sexual harassment so the safest option is to not go near anything that might cause offence. Here, we are on TV, at a sports event with a large youth audience. Everything was wrong – there was nothing right about it. Yes, many relationships start at work and I have been involved in some of these. But none were on TV, before a million people and totally out of context for people who had never met before. So that line doesn’t work for me.
Ken, yes, a serial offender. Since the McLaughlin incident, I have seen reports from four women suffering everything from unwanted approaches through to alleged lewd conduct. That’s serial for me.
G, yes, I heard the laughter, to be honest, I think it was one of those ‘embarrassed laughs’. The episode on camera caught everyone off guard and I would give then Ten crew a pass on that one.
User ID not verified.
It’s a situation because TEN were embarrassed because Mel M froze. If she was a real pro and quick on her feet she would have said “your shout or mine”, situation diffused and onto the next question. It was obvious he was being cheeky and not trying to offend. TEN should be consistent and be more concerned with the sexist TV shows they promote like Bachelor and I’m A Celebrity.
The whole thing is a joke and embarrassing for Australia.
Jamaican media headline “Gayle fined for complementing cricket reporter” which is more to the point.
User ID not verified.
Andrew, get off your butt and find a real story, get a sense of humor whilst you’re at it,what an over reaction. What, are we going to ban Lisa Wilkins from the TODAY show for rubbing one of the fire mans abs the other week on that program. Really !!!
User ID not verified.