Ajman: At a time when cricket is again embroiled in allegations of corruption, an Ajman-based academy is doing it’s bit to educate youngsters on the ill effects of such activities.
Obaid Hameed, head coach of Cricket School of Excellence (CSE), with UAE’s World Cupper and coach Shehzad Altaf and Ajman Cricket Council, took the initiative to ensure that youngsters are taught how to keep the game clean. They conducted a seminar on Anti-Corruption and Fair Play for Under-19 cricketers.
Speaking to Gulf News, Hameed said: “My mission was to teach the youngsters to play hard but at the same time keep cricket clean by reminding them that it is a gentleman’s game.”
Hameed said that to ensure that the game remains clean, he has to teach the youngsters to identity people who try to influence them to indulge in wrongdoing. He also wanted the youngsters to be taught as to what to do when they meet such people.
Hameed, who represented the UAE both at junior and senior levels and is an England Cricket Board level 3 coach, has personal experience of a bookie approaching him.
“When I went to UK as overseas player at the age of 19, I once got a call from Hong Kong. Without giving much details about himself, he revealed all details about myself and my friends. He even offered to introduce me to international cricketers. I immediately informed the incident to our club’s welfare officer. A few years later, some names surfaced involving couple of players from Hong Kong that had fixed games and I then realised who I was dealing with on the phone that day.”
Hameed, who at 27 turned into a coach, has already groomed some of UAE’s most promising junior cricketers like Ali Sharafu, Ronak Panoly, Vriitya Aravind, Wasi Shah and Shoun Roger, also narrated a recent experience. “Recently, some people had approached one of my boys to take part in a cricket advertisement and asked him to let the ball go past his bat and hit the stumps. He immediately declined and reported the matter to me as it sounded very suspicious. They even offered to pay him money as part of his role in the advertisement but as we had educated the boy along with others on Anti-Corruption and Fair Play, he understood and refrained from it,” revealed Hameed.
“Some bizarre scenarios had developed in domestic cricket with even a senior cricket council member being banned for his role in spot-fixing. One has to protect the youngsters by making them aware of the dangers lurking around them. Through the seminar, we have educated the youngsters to be wary of strangers and limit their social media usage, avoid using apps that disclose their live locations and not to give details about them in public because you never really know who’s watching you especially when you become popular and successful. It is important to keep private matters absolutely private and use social media wisely,” said Hameed.
“Today, corruption is spreading so fast that even weekend amateur cricketers can be targeted. The governing body must make it mandatory for academies and councils to conduct annual briefings and seminars on corruption in an attempt to keep the gentlemen’s game clean and free of further embarrassment,” he added.
