London: The Federation of International Cricketers’ Association (FICA) has threatened to take legal action against the Masters Champions League (MCL), following non-payment of dues.
The MCL — a T20 tournament for retired cricketers — had its inaugural season in the UAE earlier this year. It was supposed to be held for the next two years too but now FICA has threatened litigation on behalf of up to 50 players over what they term “the systematic non-payment of players”, espncricinfo.com reported on Friday.
FICA’s executive chairman Tony Irish has confirmed the intentions of the players to sue the organisers — GM Sports, which is owned by Zafar Shah and said there was a need of forming “an international dispute resolution body and contract enforcement mechanism in cricket”.
“It’s pretty obvious the organisers of the MCL have lost credibility,” Irish said.
“The failure to honour contracts sends a strong message. It is not a straightforward process to bring legal action, but we ensured there were proper player contracts in place and we are looking to coordinate a class action on behalf of 40 or 50 players.”
“We have given the organisers several deadlines and these have not been met. If they want to hold an event next year, they have a lot of ground to make-up. I think players will look at what happened in the first year and draw their own conclusions.”
