Clubs divided along election lines in boycott move

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) board of directors' election on October 6 has divided the 76 clubs in Dhaka Metropolis into two distinct camps, as while some 40 of them have called for a domestic boycott, the others have adopted compliant silence.

On Wednesday, several disgruntled club officials held a press conference at a city hotel to speak about their grievances regarding the just-concluded election. At the event, they announced a boycott of all club, division and district level cricket across the country over the irregularities in the polls.

This reaction from the clubs was not unexpected given that their control over the country's richest sporting body has been greatly diminished after the polls. Even prestigious clubs like Abahani Ltd and Mohammedan Sporting Club, who have remained influential in the BCB's power structure for as long as memory serves, don't have any representation in the newly elected 25-member board of directors.

Last year, all 76 clubs had unitedly boycotted against BCB constitution reforms and successfully nipped it in the bud. Even 48 hours before the election, 48 protesting clubs had come out threatening a boycott.

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But after the polls, the number of protesting clubs have shrunk. There is some ambiguity over exactly how many clubs are part of the protests right now, with the number fluctuating around 38-40.

Even within the protesting organisers, there had been differences. Some organisers had put forth a three-point request to the Sports Advisor Asif Mahmud regarding the polls on October 2, when Tamim Iqbal, the face of the protests, was out of the country.

"Let me clarify. We want the best for cricket, and we don't want to harm cricket. That is why we all collectively submitted an application that the election be postponed and that a re-scheduled date for a proper election be announced… There is nothing wrong with this," Rafiqul Islam Babu, one of the organisers who gave the proposal, said on the matter.

Rafiqul also hoped that the divide among clubs would soon end.

"Sides were taken surrounding the circumstances in the elections… But it's temporary and for the good of country you will see reconciliation," Rafiqul said.

During the press conference, questions were asked over why councillors, who could have sent their votes through postal voting, were instead asked to do it through e-voting. It was also claimed that when new ballots were printed after a candidate was added, some voters had requested for e-votes but later found that their votes had already been cast.

"We are not accepting the election itself. We are boycotting the election," Masuduzzaman, Mohammedan's councillor and cricket committee chairman, said during the event.

In the evening, the Cricket Committee of Dhaka Metropolis (CCDM) reaffirmed that it was wholly committed to hold the leagues.

It remains to be seen how the boycott pans out eventually, but in terms of reconciliations, the clubs have never appeared more divided.