The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the international federation accountable for the worldwide governance of the sport of cricket, most notably the holding of World Cups. The ICC is engaged to ensuring that wherever cricket is played, it can be enjoyed by all players, player support personnel, officials, spectators, commercial partners and others regardless of their respective backgrounds. Particularly, the officials of ICC strives to make sure that all such participants can enjoy the sport without being the subject of conduct such as offensive, insulting, humiliating or intimidating on the basis of race, religion, culture, colour, descent, and/or national or ethnic origin. Historically, ICC was formed as the Imperial Cricket Conference during 1909 by representatives from Australia, England and South Africa. It was renamed as the International Cricket Conference during 1965, and took up its current name in 1989. It is also recorded that the ICC has 104 members: 12 Full Members that play Test matches and 92 Associate Members. Furthermore, the official source also recorded that the ICC Global Development team who are based across 5 continents is tasked with building a bigger, better global game by assisting the 92 Associate Members (AMs) grow and enhance the standard of cricket within the different territories.
| ICC: Full Members | |
|---|---|
| Afghanistan | Australia |
| Bangladesh | England |
| India | Ireland |
| New Zealand | Pakistan |
| South Africa | Sri Lanka |
| West Indies | Zimbabwe |
Every team provides global support through a number of services to the members, which can range from assistance on governance, high performance, growth of the game at grassroots level, marketing and communications expertise and how to develop commercial strategies within an organization. Over the past 20 years the amount of cricket being played in AMs has increased significantly, to the point where there are now over 1.5 million participants currently in the game of cricket, outside the full member nations.
The officials also appoint the umpires and referees that officiate at all sanctioned Test matches, One Day International and Twenty20 Internationals. It is also stated that the role of ICC president has become a largely honorary position since the establishment of the chairman role and other changes were made to the ICC constitution during 2014. It has been claimed that the 2014 changes have handed control to the so-called ‘Big Three’ nations of England, India and Australia. Furthermore, sources also recorded that the ICC generates income from the tournaments it organizes, mainly the Cricket World Cup, and it distributes the majority of that income to its members. Sponsorship and television rights of the World Cup brought in over US$1.6 billion between 2007 and 2015, by far the ICC’s main source of income.
[ads1]
Statistics also showed that in the 9-month accounting period to 31 December 2007 the ICC had operating income of $12.66 million, chiefly from member subscriptions and sponsorship. In contrast, event income was US$285.87 million, including $239 million from the 2007 World Cup. There was also investment income of $6.695 million in the period. Sources also recorded that the ICC has no income streams from the bilateral international cricket matches, that account for the great majority of the international playing schedule, as they are owned and run by its members. It has sought to create other new events to augment its World Cup revenues. These include the ICC Champions Trophy and the ICC Super Series played in Australia during 2005. However these events have not been as successful as the ICC hoped but the ICC World Twenty20, first played in 2007, was a success.
Code of Ethics
It is also recorded that the officials also promulgate the ICC Code of Conduct, which sets professional standards of discipline for international cricket, and also co-ordinates action against corruption and match-fixing through its Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU). The ICC does not control bilateral fixtures between member countries, it does not govern domestic cricket in member countries, and it does not make the laws of the game, which remain under the control of the Marylebone Cricket Club. Sources also recorded that cricket is renowned for strong ethical values of fair play and sportsmanship and the ICC aspires to the highest ethical standards in its governance and administration of the sport. This is essential to safeguard the integrity and the reputation of cricket, to sustain confidence in the ICC as the custodian of the sport, and to allow it to secure the long-term health and vitality of cricket at all levels. The ICC has therefore adopted this Code of Ethics for officials, organizing clear ethical standards to govern the activities of persons directing and supporting the ICC as the international governing body of the sport.
Enforcement against spectators
It is also recorded that the ICC and each of its members should take such steps as it considers necessary to prevent the occurrence at the international matches played within its jurisdiction or those played as part of an ICC Event (as applicable) of inappropriate racist conduct by spectators and to ensure that any such conduct is dealt with in a timely manner by the Member or ICC (as applicable) or others before, during and/or after the International Match (as may be appropriate).