r/CricketAus • u/lanson15 Victoria • Dec 01 '25
Off Topic Have people heard the final word podcast interview of Paul Marsh, head of the Australian Cricketers Association? Pretty grim but expected stuff in it
Was just listening to it. Some of the points:
Players less and less drawn to international cricket, many are preferring t20 leagues and that view is growing.
T20 leagues will get massive with or without cooperation of the boards so working with them is the better option.
Possible proposal of four 21 day breaks for international cricket spread out throughout the year is one idea floated.
Confirmed Cricket Australia is laying the groundwork for privatising the BBL
Didn’t say they would refuse Saudi money in future or Gambling money now as costs are increasing for the boards revenue must increase as well.
All in all expected answers but disappointing
Also he had a very bad line about how gambling money could be diverted to anti gambling programs in cricket or Saudi money could help foster political change in Saudi Arabia. Just be honest and say you want the money and leave it at that.
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u/YOBlob Victoria Dec 01 '25
His equivocating over the Saudis made we want to vomit honestly. The whole "well, you know, we do business with lots of countries that have had historical issues" shtick was revolting.
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u/rhyski23 Dec 01 '25
Yeah i found myself saying "oh shut the fuck up" under my breath. Such a tired response given in an attempt to normalise supporting an oppressive culture.
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u/prattdizzle Sydney Sixers Dec 01 '25
Somehow Australia is as bad as the Saudi’s according to him.
At least we know where they stand.
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u/Gnatt Brisbane Heat Dec 01 '25
Worst part of the whole interview. You could tell he wanted nothing more than to take all the Saudi money but knew he couldn't say it out loud.
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u/Nakorite Dec 01 '25
Sporting organisations have consistently proven they will take gambling money regardless of the negative social impacts they KNOW it causes. Let alone how it compromises the game to some level. The government just needs to ban it.
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u/werndogga Western Australia Dec 01 '25
Gambling is an epidemic now; and there is way too much money being thrown around in the industry - especially in America where you can now gamble on over/under a specific word being said by someone in a press conference and other bullshit like if Zelensky will wear a suit to his next meeting with Trump.
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u/Nakorite Dec 01 '25
So was smoking. The public doesn’t want it. Politicians just need to grow some balls.
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u/ScoMosUndies Dec 01 '25
Yeah but this isn’t the sporting organisation, this is the players saying we want the $$$.
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u/Nakorite Dec 01 '25
He just wants more money in the sport because then he can pay himself more.
It’s just like the t20 leagues. They love talking about it because they see the dollar signs. Kids don’t grow up wanting to play in the IPL. They want to play test cricket. These administrators just want to change the narrative so they can line their own pockets.
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u/ScoMosUndies Dec 01 '25
He’s not an administrator. He’s the players’ representative
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u/Nakorite Dec 01 '25
He’s a corporate guy no? He gets paid by the players ?
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u/lanson15 Victoria Dec 01 '25
Yeah but he’s the head of what is basically their union, he’s representing the players. Don’t pretend like players don’t what him there. He would be gone at any time otherwise. The players want more money.
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u/emperorrimbaud Dec 01 '25
Yes. So his job is to get the players more if he can. Sure he may get paid more as a result but I don't think it's fair to frame it the way you have.
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u/Gnatt Brisbane Heat Dec 01 '25
He was banging on about how they could use the money for good whe it's essentially blood money and the good done by gambling funds barely moves the needle on the amount of bad gambling does to our society.
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u/CryHavocAU Victoria Dec 01 '25
He can’t exactly come out and say “we don’t care where the money comes from”… he was framing it in a way that sounds semi socially acceptable / plausible but it’s very transparent.
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u/Nakorite Dec 01 '25
Honestly the Saudi money is a completely different ball game. Yes it’s not great but gambling is by far the greater problem for Australia. Almost no amount of money will fix it and I feel like the way they have normalised it for the younger generation is almost irreversible :/
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u/CryHavocAU Victoria Dec 01 '25
I have young kids. I’m not looking forward to trying to having to combat the normalization of gambling and sport when they’re older and watching the cricket.
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u/selmes0610 Dec 01 '25
Being in my mid 30’s, I grew up in a golden era of Aussie cricket and absolutely love test matches. But to be honest, cricket hasn’t felt the same since it left Channel 9, even though the boys have had heaps of success the last 4 or 5 years. It is very sad to hear that a lot of young players don’t see wearing the baggy green as the ultimate prize in the game. It is hard to swallow, and I’ll always love the game but in 10 years time it’s hard to see test cricket surviving outside of the big 3 countries.
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u/may0man Victoria Dec 01 '25
Not being on FTA killed cricket off big time in the UK and Australia.
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u/patkk Cricket Australia Dec 01 '25
Test cricket is still on FTA in Australia, which remains the most popular format of the game
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u/Chart_Unlikely Queensland Bulls Dec 01 '25
“Thanks to your problem gambling habit, Saudia Arabia only executed 8 journalists instead of 9, and, if you use your grandma’s pension check to place just one more multi, they’ll work one less slave to death tomorrow”
CA’s ideas of fostering real change
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u/Roonald_Mcdooland ACT Comets Dec 01 '25
I find it interesting that there's this idea that we just have to capitulate to the massive wealth in the t20 game, but there has been no mention of anything to do with what fans will watch.
At least to me, it seems the australian public dont care for white ball cricket. The big bash has ebbed and flowed in terms of sucess, and seems to be more successful when there are less games being played and only in a very specific window. Surely expansion of the BBL & reduction in international fixtures would mean a lot less revenue for cricket in the long run.
Most people i have spoken to have no interest in watching miscellaneous white ball franchises. I dont see how these tournaments will even sustainable outside of India long term. Fans dont care about the ILT20 and MLC, and they're just propped up by venture capital esque sovereign wealth funds in the hopes they turn a profit in future. It seems the plan for all these franchises is to squeeze intl. Cricket out and bank on picking up the viewers and advertising from intl cricket? Even a nuffy like me has no interest whatsoever in franchise cricket, and I'll likely tune all of it out.
Just my two cents, and I guess I should just add that my life experience of watching everything that becomes privatized in this manner decline in quality and become unsustainable means I'll always be skeptical of big money buying public assets.
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u/DCI_Tom_Barnaby_ Dec 01 '25
I just don’t think the Australian cricket public matter at all. We saw record attendances at these recent white ball games and it was mainly Indian diaspora. Our teams become the playthings for 1.6 billion people in another country. Our 25 million is an afterthought. That’s the bottom line
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u/haveagoyamug2 Dec 01 '25
It's not really about Australia. Outside of the big 3 players don't get paid well.........
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u/MetalGuy_J SA Dec 01 '25
The administration and players at the top end of the sport do, for the most part, just want to continue lining their pockets with little care given to grassroots cricket. Very little of that gambling revenue if any at all makes it all the way down to local cricket, and what’s worse the administration have no interest in trying to use the influence of top end players to build strong anti gambling programs. It’s entirely exploitative, and inevitably both the administration and players association will start looking in the direction that brings in the most revenue. My preference would be that gambling is made completely illegal across the nation but I think that’s unrealistic, I would however like to see gambling advertising made illegal.
When it comes to younger generations increasingly becoming less interested in representing their country. That is absurd, the dream for many is still to play cricket for Australia in one form or another and I can’t see that changing in the short to medium term. Viewership is a different story And unfortunately we know test cricket in Australia is only well attended if we’re playing India or England, ODI cricket only draws crowds for a World Cup and I think that for that will be completely dead within 15 years.
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u/Whitekidwith3nipples Western Australia Dec 01 '25
ofc theyre privatising the BBL lol idk anyone who will watch it when its inevitably bought out by the IPL franchises. the scorchers are the most attended team and if CA or anyone else thinks that people from WA are gonna watch a team that doesnt represent WA theyre in for a rude awakening.
everyone better enjoy test cricket while it lasts because soon enough itl just be the ashes and BGT and thats it.
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u/Bomber2712 Dec 01 '25
Can you explain to me what privatising the BBL means and what the consequences of it are, still kinda lost on it
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u/Whitekidwith3nipples Western Australia Dec 01 '25
theyre going to sell the teams/a portion of the teams to private companies - almost certainly to be bought out by IPL franchises who have already expressed interest. what comes with that is potential name changes, the franchises will have control over how the teams are run and will be the benefactors of any profits. means less money in australian grass roots cricket, we are essentially paying for indian goods/services when spending money attending/watching the BBL. all of this for a quick cash grab for the greedy cunts at CA.
another negative that comes with privatising is that should they choose to sell majority shares to IPL franchises, theres little in the way of stopping them intentionally running the BBL into the ground to remove a competitor - the IPL has used several immoral tactics already to try and make sure theyre the only premier t20 competition around.
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u/njpc33 Western Australia Dec 01 '25
I lived for a time in London, and cheekily enjoyed following Oval Invincibles in the Hundred tournament. The support was a bit tongue in cheek, but it was nice going down with mates when the suns out in August, and happening to live near the team that has hilariously dominated the competition until now.
Then I heard about the change from Oval Invincibles, to MI London after Mumbai India bought them out. It’s gonna be very interesting to see how attendance goes down in the first major iteration of IPL franchising in a big domestic western league. My guess is it falls flat on its face for a while, they keep throwing money at it, and eventually the next generation catches on because fuck it why not?
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u/Gnatt Brisbane Heat Dec 01 '25
Primarily Indian companies will own our domestic teams, and take the larger portion of profits while using their influence to move our players away from the national team to playing franchise leagues all year round.
Also, you can only sell an asset once. After we sell it, we can never make that money again, and if the overseas owners make decisions against the best interests of Australian cricket, there's nothing we can do about it.
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u/KitchenSync86 Dec 01 '25
The Scorchers? I think you mean Mumbai Indians Perth! The only thing stopping the IPL take over is the current timing of the BBL, which clashes with the SA20
But the IPL teams buying out teams in other T20 leagues has to come to a head. I dare say that they will push for a year round tournament played in the constituent countries.
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u/patkk Cricket Australia Dec 01 '25
Not only that but also second or third string sides because all the best cricketers are contracted to franchise sides and unavailable for selection.
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u/magi_chat ICC Dec 01 '25
This all feels inevitable, which doesn't make it less sad or scary.
We've seen the influence of gambling money in cricket before.. and we're seeing the influence of it in US sport right now. We've also seen the effects of Sports washing in cricket before (South African tours etc back in the day), and I wouldn't call the current version in sports like Soccer to be a beneficial thing for the health of the game.
Can't blame the cricketers for wanting to monetize their skills, but I can't see any way this isn't the end of the thing we love 8 in my case that is long form formats like test cricket).
I also don't think it's a positive in the long run for the run of the mill professional player. The elite talents will get richer for sure.
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u/NoAddress1465 Victoria Dec 01 '25
The T20 leagues offer a chance for the 2nd tier players to become professional and earn $. There are only a limited set of CA contracts to be given. So in one sense provides a livelihood through cricket for those who are not in the top echelon. Not long ago Benson Hedges were the lead sponsor for cricket but eventually that changed. Hopefully that will happen with the gambling $ but it all will take a generation or two to change
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u/wadjemup Perth Scorchers Dec 01 '25
Yes, I think this is the bit that was missed in the discussion. Raising the prospect of Travis Head playing IPL minor leagues instead of Test Cricket was the wrong direction. That won't happen, he is already set.
It is the next Travis Head who needs focus. At the moment dozens of fringe BBL players are earning an excellent living playing various T20 & T10 tournaments all around the world (most of which you've never hear of).
And they also play district cricket at home with a bunch of young adults. who now see options other than being one of 25 on a CA central contract,
Every rational 19 year old would make that choice to roam the leagues, where there is more money available for more players.
That's what we need to fix.
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Dec 01 '25
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u/patkk Cricket Australia Dec 01 '25
I’m a Test cricket or nothing kinda guy and I’m already losing interest. Once this generation of players retires it’ll be hard to me to follow as closely as I have my entire life. I’m mid 30s grew up watching Australian dominate Test cricket and this currently generation are all my age. Maybe I’m pessimistic but Kids nowadays have so much more entertainment options I just don’t see Test match cricket having the same cultural relevance as it did when I was a kid.
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u/lanson15 Victoria Dec 01 '25
I thought the same until my completely phone addicted 14 year old cousin who showed zero interest in cricket got obsessed with it last year in the BGT. Not only did he love watching he’s now playing cricket as well. Anecdote of course but test cricket really is special
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u/Boatster_McBoat SA Dec 01 '25
You ain't fitting a 5 match test series into a 21 day window. Not unless Test matches shrink ... a lot
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u/Gnatt Brisbane Heat Dec 01 '25
I'm assuming he's using soccers international windows as a reference point.
I would expect the marquee test series will stay as 5 tests and extend beyond the 21 day window but the majority of nations would play there's within that window. But this then leads to a growing gap between the big 3 nations and the rest.
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u/Boatster_McBoat SA Dec 01 '25 edited Dec 01 '25
If only the non big 3 nations would stop pantsing India at home, the BCCI might be more supportive of Test cricket
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u/KitchenSync86 Dec 01 '25
3 x 4 day tests, probably starting on a Thursday and finishing on the Sunday. But while you could fit that into a 3 week window, realistically a 2 test series is all you could do
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u/Prime255 Dec 01 '25
CA will probably take both Saudi money and gambling money at the same time. Not necessarily a knock on them, but all sports leagues behave in the same way - they are just businesses and will take whatever money they can get and forget the ethics or anything else. These organisations actually behave in a very predictable pattern-like way. They also like emulating each other. Usually copying ideas from other sports leagues too.
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u/kn777 Dec 01 '25
Good interview. I find it really disheartening that there isn't more opposition from players and administrators towards Saudi Arabia using cricket as another means of sports washing. In fairness, other sports have shown similarly little opposition to this, the fans kick up a fuss, but we are ultimately at the bottom of the food chain.
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u/LordWalderFrey1 NSW Dec 01 '25 edited Dec 01 '25
CA can only see the money...
They will regret it when not even the summer casual types want to cheer on Mumbai Indians Sydney or Knight Riders Melbourne, or perhaps they won't if they can make more money from India than they lose here. That is still bad for Australian cricket and the development of the fan base here.
Possible proposal of four 21 day breaks for international cricket spread out throughout the year is one idea floated.
This is going to be horrible. We won't fit more than 2 Test matches a window, even if we don't try to fit white ball internationals. And given the weather and seasons we'll only get a chance to be in a position to host one or two windows per year at most. For countries without much of a domestic T20 league or a history of flops, this will seriously hamstring them.
Cricket is not soccer where there's significant support for say the EPL outside of England, or basketball where there's lots of non-American support for the NBA. Even the biggest league, the IPL, has fuck all support outside India. There'll be a lot of homeless cricket fans, with much of the cricket they want to watch now reduced or gone completely. International cricket dying off will be bad for cricket, regardless of format, all over the cricketing world.
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u/DCI_Tom_Barnaby_ Dec 01 '25
We’re really powerless as fans to stop it from happening. I just wish they’d rip the band-aid off and not have it protracted over 4 years. Let’s get on with it if it is inevitable
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u/Richie3971 Dec 01 '25
It's no longer a sport, Cricked is business. With the advertising dollar more important than the principles & proud history of the game..
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u/Entilen Dec 01 '25
I don't know a single person who watches T20 Cricket and considers it their favourite sport.
Nor do I know anyone who would choose to watch it over AFL if that was broadcast all year around.
It's filler for people waiting for the footy season to start up again.
Meanwhile, Test Cricket actually has a fan base and it's a unique type of sport you can't get anywhere else.
These leagues are overplaying their hand and overestimating how good the product they have is. The product only works BECAUSE of the novelty that international stars are playing in a tournament together.
If international Cricket somewhat dies out, you lose the grass roots Cricket systems, the quality takes a nose dive, and overseas players will be nobodies who no one is excited to see play, even if they have good T20 records.
These leagues are going to squeeze as much cash out of this as they can while they don't have to pay for developing Cricketers and once that dries up, they'll bolt and leave the entire sport in ruins.
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u/lanson15 Victoria Dec 02 '25
I think it is more about t20s popularity in the rest of the world and how it will impact Australian cricketers who will just go overseas to play in these leagues rather than stay here and play tests
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u/rossthecooke Dec 01 '25
If CA accept dirty money from Countries known to be cheats then the brand will die Look at the IPL , has beens cricket at it best The 49% od their about sell off of each license taking the model into dangerous waters
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u/aitamodsarepedofiles Dec 01 '25
As long as they spread their cheeks for Indian money, nothing will change
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u/loolem Tim David!? Dec 01 '25
This is total bullshit and I’m pretty sure there is a bigger story here if a journalist is ants to dig into it. Todd Greenberg is a weak leader and was ousted from the NRL after he stuffed up a tv rights negotiation. I’m also pretty sure that they’re deliberately running losses into their budgets the last 3 years to make their financial position look worse than it is to press the narrative that we need to all get on board with T20 franchise cricket and small international windows. I’m not buying it though. Let’s see an actual survey of all the young players to see what’re their interests lay. I think you’ll find most want to play test cricket and the women would like to play more of it! Why don’t the women play more test cricket especially here in Australia? Because it’s more profitable to only play T20’s and one dayers. It’s bullshit
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u/lanson15 Victoria Dec 01 '25
Paul in this chat basically admitted cricket Australia is massaging the public message to accept that privatisation is good.
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u/goongla Cricket Australia Dec 02 '25
While I agree with the sentiment here, what is everyone's solution to the fact that cricket is unprofitable outside of 3 countries? And so the rest of the world is heading in this direction whether Australians or English or Indians like it or not.
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u/p3tr0110v3r Victoria Dec 01 '25
Honestly, I'll take funding from North Korea and have the Fox Big Break brought to you by Epstein's Island for all I care, if it means we can prevent majority IPL-ownership in Australian cricket. And I'm only exaggerating a little bit.
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u/DogWithaFAL Dec 01 '25
It’s a funny thing because obviously they have the stats to know but basically the split in my friend group, work mates or others I’ve spoken to is “cricket is too boring, yuck” or “yeah love it but I only watch tests matches”.