Tom Moffat says ICC and national governing bodies can “exercise leverage” without boycotts
Firdose Moonda29-Jan-2025Global cricket needs to move away from “random and inconsistent,” outbursts of support for Afghanistan’s exiled women’s cricketers and towards a “systematic global approach.” That’s the view of the global player body, the World Cricketers Association (WCA) whose CEO Tom Moffat has called the exclusion of women’s players in any country “unacceptable.”In the same week that an Afghan Women’s XI will come together for the first time to play against a Cricket Without Borders team at the Junction Oval in Australia, Moffat spoke to ESPNcricinfo about possible collective action which he says “doesn’t necessarily mean boycotts,” but should include both the ICC and individual boards.”The ICC and national governing bodies run and regulate the game and their tournaments, and have a responsibility to exercise leverage to ensure that the rights of players in our sport, including Afghanistan women’s players, are protected and respected,” Moffat said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean boycotts, there are a number of ways to exercise leverage, but to date the random and inconsistent manner of dealing with it, and of even having the conversation around the world, highlights the need for cricket’s governing bodies to implement a more systematic global approach to protecting basic player rights, along with just about every other aspect of the sport.”Related
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Afghanistan, who have been a Full Member since 2017, does not have a women’s team but was developing one before the Taliban takeover in 2021. In 2020, the ACB contracted 25 women’s players but they never played an international. Under the Taliban regime, women have been banned from participating in sport and there have been increasing restrictions on them in all aspects of public life including education and access to healthcare.The crackdown on women’s rights has drawn criticism from several international organisations including Amnesty International and the United Nations, and though there are asset freezes on some Taliban officials, there are no sporting bans in place. Afghanistan remain members of FIFA and the ICC, to name two global bodies and sent a team of three men and three women, who were living in exile and were not recognised by the Taliban government, to last year’s Paris Olympics.Currently, Australia are the only country who have cancelled bilateral engagements against Afghanistan while England have said they will do the same. Both countries continue to play Afghanistan in ICC events, even as calls to boycott those games grow.In England, a cross-party parliamentary group >wrote to the ECB strongly urging the men’s team and officials to, “speak out against the horrific treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan,” and to consider not playing Afghanistan in their Champions Trophy fixture on February 26. In response, the ECB CEO Richard Gould called for “a coordinated, ICC-wide approach,” which is similar to Moffat’s stance.Similarly, South Africa, who are also grouped with Afghanistan in the Champions Trophy, have received backlash from their sports minister Gayton McKenzie, who compared the Taliban’s treatment of women to Apartheid.Cricket South Africa have actively sought out fixtures against Afghanistan and played them in an ODI series in Sharjah last September and maintain that shunning the men’s team will not have a material impact on the situation facing women in Afghanistan. South Africa’s stance is important because they have first-hand experience of being banned from the 1970s to 1990s and sporting isolation (along with economic sanctions) was a significant contributor to the fall of Apartheid. However, CSA is of the opinion that it will take more than a cricket boycott to force the Taliban to recognise women’s rights.