ICC To Probe Allegations Of Fake Women's Cricket Matches In France

What is worse than blatant disregard for women's sport? It is the act of showing that you care, when in reality you don't. Things seem to be looking up for women's cricket, as we speak on International Women's Day 2024 (Thursday, March 8). The second edition of the Women's Premier League is underway in India with in-stadia attendance routinely crossing 20,000 and most international stars in action. The Women's Big Bash League concluded its ninth season in December 2023. The sport witnessed three one-off Tests in quick succession and the T20 World Cup is slated in September and October 2024, which will hopefully build on viewership momentum. (More Cricket News)

In such a scenario, all efforts from emerging cricket nations to grow the women's game in their backyard should be welcomed, right? Not quite. A three-month-long investigation by France 24 journalists Peter O’Brien and Gregor Thompson has unearthed shocking details of women's cricket matches reportedly being faked in France to buff up the numbers and gain access to the International Cricket Council's (ICC) development funds.

With the ICC laying emphasis on equitable expansion of women's cricket, the sport's governing body in France stood to gain if it demonstrated enough and more opportunities being provided to budding female cricketers in the country. And this is where the France 24 report's claims of falsification sprouted.

It all began when former French international Tracy Rodriguez came across an article put out by France Cricket (FC) in March 2022, titled “The Evolution of Women's Sport and Cricket in France”. The article stated that FC organized 73 women’s matches in 2021 and planned to host 91 that year. It also claimed that 25% of French cricket players were women.

Rodriguez had served on the board of FC from 2021 to 2023 and grew suspicious of the figure quoted in the board's aforementioned statement. She decided to visit some women’s second division matches and found that they were not being played at the specified time or venue.

“Two or three times I [went] there, people were having picnics and kids cycling around at the time of the games. Then the day after I would see the results of the games online,” the report quotes Rodriguez as saying.

Peter and Gregor then set out to ascertain the veracity of Rodriguez's claims, and found something similar. They visited the Sarcelles Cricket Ground for the women's second division semi-final between the Paris Knight Riders and Saint-Omer on September 2, 2023 at 2pm, and saw the men’s under-19 semi-final (supposed to have ended sooner) taking place instead. FC still ratified the match and published its 'results' on their website, the report adds.

At this juncture, the reporters decided to contact Paris Knight Riders and Saint-Omer, and the two clubs offered differing responses. One club (reportedly unaware of Peter and Greg's presence at the ground) said the match was held at the Sarcelles ground at 2pm as slated. The second one said the clash had to be shifted on short notice to another venue in Chantilly, which is 25 kilometres north of Sarcelles.

After the journalists made these calls to the clubs, they received one from an FC spokesperson, allegedly instructing them not to contact the clubs directly.

While the facts of the matter are currently under investigation by ICC, the financial benefits of espousing equal opportunities for women's cricket are not in dispute. "According to a 2021 ICC presentation on the state of cricket in France, the ICC provides 60-70% of France Cricket's total budget, roughly $320,000 out of a total of $520,000 for the year 2022. Almost half of these ICC funds are meant to support women's and juniors' cricket," the report further states, throwing light on the incentives at hand.

The report not only compelled ICC to launch a probe, it also led 17 members of the France women's cricket team to issue a joint statement "strongly and firmly" dissociating themselves from the behaviour and actions of FC.

Meanwhile, FC president Prebou Balane has refuted the allegations in the report as baseless. "These are absolutely fake and baseless allegations from a British-origin journalist trying to get some attention, especially with myself being of Indian origin and at the helm for the past 10 years, they haven't been any part of the system for a while for cricket in France.

"As cricket recently has been included in the Olympics, if you try and understand, the timing couldn't be better. Now, they are just trying to get some traction," Balane told Cricbuzz.

Indeed, the inclusion of cricket in Los Angeles 2028 Olympics is likely to have major implications across the board, including increased sanctions for FC from France's sports ministry. All of that could however be contingent on the findings of ICC's probe. Until then, the real loser is French women's cricket.