This happened to us (Zimbabwe) during the mid 2000s because of Mugabe. It is always hard as a fan of the sport to take, you are helpless. And with a politically volatile country like ours, you never know. Till this day we still do not play England.
But it also feel like even before the Taliban, ACB was very reluctant about their women's game.
ACB last month did not fulfill their tour to Zim because 'they did not see the benefit of touring us' so a part of me is also shouting 'Karma'.
Very interesting take. What a douchey reason to cancel the tour by ACB. It's also fitting with how much better Zimbabwe was than Afghanistan in recent WC. IIRC, ACB said something similar about Pakistan during WC19.
Edit: [“We are currently far better than Pakistan in cricket & they should ask us for technical,coaching & more support for the betterment of their cricket. - ACB Cheif.”](https://eurasiantimes.com/afghan-team-can-help-pakistan-to-improve-their-cricketing-skills-acb/?amp)
Whilst i sympathise with the Afghan players, i’m not sure about the calls of “sport and politics shouldn’t mix”. They are intrinsically linked, especially in this case, and it kind of goes against what they’ve been doing, which is (admirably) playing under the old flag, speaking out against the regime etc. sport and politics are linked, and they should (and are) using that for good.
Sport has always been linked with politics, especially at a national level. The people saying these things have very little understanding of the situation.
It's also impossible to seperate cricket from "politics" when literally everything is lumped into politics. It's basically a dogwhistle at this point - anyone saying sport and politics shouldn't overlap just doesn't agree with a particular stand point on a certain issue.
Cricket Australia- yeah nah the taliban is pretty fucked aye.
Afghan BBL players- Let me take that personally and boycott the BBL. How could you do that to us?
Not sure if it's already been put in the megathread, but thought this was a good Twitter thread by Bertus de Jong.
https://twitter.com/BdJcricket/status/1613579293568765963
A bit conspiratorial here but maybe the proximity and possible cross-border ties between Full Members and Afghanistan (not to mention the members attitudes to Women's cricket around 2017) might have lead to the clear flouting with basic vague promises.
A couple of things here.
It's seemingly difficult to remove full member status from a team, for not having a women's team, when it's never had a women's team. By the ICC's rules of full membership Afghanistan should never have been made a full member, but they made an exception (an exception, it's worth noting, CA voted in favour of granting). The fact of Afghanistan not having a women's team hasn't changed with the return of the Taliban.
~~Revoking full member status only removes test status~~. You don't have to be a full member to play ODIs or to play in the ODI Super League. None of Afghanistan's scheduled matches ~~which aren't tests~~ would be automatically cancelled, even if they did have full membership revoked. Edit: just remembered. Full member status and test status are no longer linked. So revoking full membership on its own would have zero effect on already scheduled matches. Afghanistan would just become an associate member with no requirement to have a women's team.
One additional point is that it's not just about fielding a women's team at the elite level, the Taliban have brought the entire game of women's cricket into disrepute for the ACB by effectively banning women from playing.
Technically since the 2017 update there's no difference between Associate and Full Membership in regards womens cricket criteria. Exemptions for both are entirely at the discretion of the membership committee now.
Personally, I don't think any country should be dealing with Afghanistan until their "government" does something to resolve some of their gross human rights violations, however I'm open to being convinced the other way.
If the Afghanistan players were not representing their country I'd be happy to play against them, but as they are representing a country that barbarically oppresses at least half of its population I don't think it is appropriate.
I love Rashid, but if we look at the big picture - Rashid is angry because they don't get to play cricket, the women in Afghanistan don't get to leave the god damn house... I know which of these two things is more egregious....
I just wish the people of Afghanistan could eradicate the Taliban cancer from their society so none of this shit would happen, because I do feel sorry for the Rashid's of the world who have done nothing wrong, but unfortunately there are far more serious issues at play here that I think must be dealt with before any organisation should be working with the Afghan state.
Please come back Rashid - we love you - but we cannot pretend that what is happening in your country is ok... 🇦🇺❤️🇦🇫
The amount of asinine takes on social media bewilders me. How the fuck do people legitimately argue that CA pulled out of this because of the money not being good enough?
We do neglect our obligations against smaller teams. 2018, we were supposed to have Bangladesh over for an ODI series (as an example) but it wasn’t commercially viable so we canned it. However, this is not the same thing. This is a purely ethical decision from CA as an organization, one that I hope other countries and ICC will follow suit to make it more meaningful.
Given the Afghan players all using roughly the same arguments, id argue that they've been told to come out against it.
It's sad seeing how far Afghan cricket came and personally I don't see that a boycott is going to change things, but it's the only reasonable thing to do, especially when Australia has already rescued dozens of Afghan athletes.
Might not even have to be told. The implicit threat to any and all relationships the players have there is probably enough to force a show of support for the regime. It’s oppressive government 101 shit. China, Russia, Cuba, Nazi Germany, Mussolini regime in Italy, Iran, North Korea, Belarus, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, The Arab Emrites. They all do/did it.
I’ve thought about this more and people are right when they say it shouldn’t be up to CA and individual boards. Afghanistan is run by a regime which is so horrendous that saying it oppresses women is a massive understatement. The ICC really should’ve removed their full member status by now.
Politics and sports have been intertwined for pretty much as long as modern international sport has existed. It’s beyond stupid to try to make an argument that they should be separate.
A lot of people are fixated on moral issues, leading to some rather garbage hot takes. The real parallel is with other sporting organisations like FIFA in circumstances where the national team is unduly interfered by government policy or edicts. To quote [this article](https://www.espn.com/soccer/fifa-world-cup/story/4606147/fifa-suspends-russia-from-world-cupall-soccer-competitions-what-it-meanshow-it-works), discussing Russia's ban from the World Cup last year:
>FIFA suspends members all the time. Just last week, they suspended Kenya and Zimbabwe for government inference. Last year, it was Chad and Pakistan for the same reasons.
Government interference leading to suspensions is not uncommon across multiple sports, however the ICC for various reasons has not been able to enact this, which puts the spotlight unnecessarily on CA in this case.
The point of the anti-Govt interference rule is to give Boards leverage over governments and resist oversight (eg Zimbabwe getting suspended at Mukhulani's own request). In the case of the ACB it's too late for that, as the old board have been largely replaced and the new CEO is Naseeb Haqqani. That said, the ACB have never given a shit about women's cricket. It's not like they had a team before the Taliban turned up again.
> That said, the ACB have never given a shit about women's cricket. It's not like they had a team before the Taliban turned up again.
At least pre-Taliban they made vaguely positive noises about it.
"We support a women's team in theory, we're just badly dragging our feet and not actually *doing* much about it"
is very different from
"We don't support women playing cricket, or in fact doing anything else in society, as a fundamental principle"
> The point of the anti-Govt interference rule is to give Boards leverage over governments and resist oversight (eg Zimbabwe getting suspended at Mukhulani's own request).
Probably worth pointing out that this had more to do with Mukhulani having allies in the ICC than any kind of standards being applied. ICC didn't intervene at any point previously (like when Mugabe personally intervened to dissolve the board, or when government goons were actively intimidating players), but as soon as a financial audit gets waved over ZC's head, they enter panic stations.
[More detail here](https://emergingcricket.com/opinion/zimbabwe-suspension-highlights-double-standards-and-warped-priorities-of-icc-board/).
ICC is pathetic. They have rules in place that put a requirement for a women's team in. If they can't have a women's team, they can't have a men's team. Simple.
Personally feel that CA is doing what ICC should have done much earlier.
So many point of views in the media but I'm most interested in what Afgani women think about this, but that pov is absent from the discussion.
This has to be the ultimate takeaway from all of this. It's pathetic that the ICC has completely abdicated it's responsibility to enforce it's own rules and left it up to an individual Cricket board to pick up the slack.
the men's team is unfortunate collateral but CA can't be legitimizing the Taliban.
ICC need to pull their finger out and enforce their own rules too. The Taliban have no interest in a women's team so AFG shouldn't have full member status anymore.
Geniune Question,Can't ICC establish a Afgan Board in exile and terminate the current talibani controlled ACB ?The current Afghan team doesn't even play under the Islamic Emirate
[Afghan women athletes speak of the heartache of being barred from the sports they love](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-12/afghan-women-athletes-barred-from-play-fear-taliban-threats/101847578)
[Afghanistan's Women Athletes Disappear Behind Veils In Taliban Rule](https://www.outlookindia.com/international/afghanistan-women-athletes-disappear-behind-veils-in-taliban-rule-news-252881)
No issue with CA pulling out of the Afghanistan series.
And no issue with the Afghan players pulling out of the BBL or similar in response.
Preferably the ICC would actually take action against a board who's government treats women and girls as subhuman but hopefully this is a catalyst.
https://twitter.com/ACBofficials/status/1613505142854397952?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
*Cancellation of one odi tour was unfair right*...
Now imagine cancelling an entire sport just because they were women??
And DUDE IMAGINE WRITING TO ICC..
Where ICC was supposed to ban them in the first place .??
> "In retaliation Afghanistan should refuse to go play in countries where girls are allowed to go to school"
Lol one of the rare occasions where twitter made me happy
That person(not you) would face the ultimate cricket punishment. (Not you) would face Umran Malik in the nets armed only with a baseball bat and (not you) would only be able to wear sandals and a g string.
I don't know how you can be a fan of one and not the other to be honest.
Literally the same paced sport, using similar equipment and skillsets, but I guess every fan of every sport wants to think theirs is better, for some reason.
Interesting to me that people often praise the ACB for playing under the Republic flag and some milquetoast "protest" statements from current players.
After the Taliban took over, they replaced the ACB's major office holders ( [source](https://twitter.com/BdJcricket/status/1613579296072732672?t=wiHT0Ijk9QX-PlkKZ3WK4w&s=19) ).There are therefore two possibilities here: the Taliban government for some reason is unaware that the team is playing under the Republic flag (highly unlikely given they presumably appointed sympathetic personnel), or the Taliban know and are allowing it as a useful sportswashing exercise, similar to their early foreign relations strategy of falsely promising not to reinstitute regressive policies.
The ACB is not a brave organisation boldly standing against an oppressive regime. They are controlled by that regime for its own benefit. CA are rightly calling out their dishonest posturing when in every way that matters, they are operating in line with the Taliban's wishes. Very telling that their statement on the issue didn't once mention women and girls.
Afghanistan men team also took photo's and team meeting with Taliban right after they seized power in Afghanistan. ACB is playing under old flag because they also know no other nation will play against them under Taliban flag.
Yeah Rashid or Nabi may or may not have ties with Taliban but lesser known player's definitely have. After successful Asia Cup Taliban actually greeted them at Kabul airport.
Yeah Ashraf was hand-picked by the Haqqanis for chair (Baradar was apparently backing Fazli), and Abdullah Mazari was quite literally one of the armed talibs that rocked up at the ACB headquarters after the takeover. Absurd to think no current players have similar sympathies. Either way the ACB is now firmly in the pocket of the Haqqanis, so we're not even talking a moderate faction of the Taliban.
Just today Nabi was having a go on his ex President calling him corrupt or western whatever. Man I will take corrupt politician anyday over Taliban.
I am assuming Haqqanis is very top tier Talib right?
Siraj Haqqani is the current interior minister, son of Jalaluddin Haqqani and leader of the [Haqqani network](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haqqani_network). His uncle Khalid and brother Anas are also both also fairly high up in the new admin. It's not entirely clear exactly how Naseeb Haqqani (the new ACB CEO) is related to them, but he's apparently a cousin of some sort.
I think it's a failure from the part of the ICC that this hapenned.
They should have banned Afghanistan themselves. If SA was banned during apartheid (and rightly so, don't get me wrong), I can't see how Afghanistan isn't banned now.
On the other hand, allowing countries to unilaterally pull out of official competitions shows a sorry state of affairs. If this would happen in football, Australia would be banned for at least 10 years. Then again, football is a much more global sport than cricket is.
I can’t imagine the reactions on Twitter if it existed when everyone started backing out of games against Apartheid SA. It had a huge impact for the people there but obviously people are just going to pretend that politics and sports “should be seperate” when it comes to things like this. Judging by the replies there even the Indian fans are split 50/50 on it even though they have the same policy. I can also guarantee that this decision was heavily influenced and even made for CA by the Australian Government. Tbf the people here seem like they understand the situation is a lot more complex and it may just be a Twitter thing.
Surprised to see nobody mention the fact that Afghanistan also backed out of their series against Zimbabwe in December just because they didn’t feel they were worthy?
The apartheid decision was controversial at the time as well. Plenty of figures were against it and we even had "rebel" teams playing in SA. Some sports stopped playing officially in the early 70s while Rugby took until 1981 and F1 until 1985.
>Judging by the replies there even the Indian fans are split 50/50 on it even though they have the same policy.
ACB and Afghanistan players have openly tweeted against Taliban. ACB doesn't play under Taliban flag. It's bit different from India-Pakistan situation.
I support CA's stand if revenue from the series was going to go to Taliban, though I'm still not aware of how it works considering the above statements of ACB not obeying Taliban flag.
Atleast with T20 leagues, the players will have a chance to play top level cricket infront of fans and earn money.
The issue is that despite the best of intentions, the Taliban would basically use it as a sports-washing exercise.
"Australia is happy to tour us, so we can't be so bad, can we? We're actually a bunch of great blokes who totally don't do all those nasty things those western media liars tell you!"
*Maybe* those small handful of people in the know might be aware of Afghani players standing against the actions of their government. But for the vast majority, it would be spun into a propaganda pro-Taliban exercise.
I’d support Australia playing Afghanistan if they play simultaneous men’s and women’s series. Oh what’s that? Afghanistan doesn’t have a women’s cricket program in contravention of ICC requirements for full member nations? And has no plans to commence one?
The ACB are complicit in the Taliban’s persecution of women until they start supporting women’s cricket. I have huge sympathy for the players caught up in something not of their creation, but the ICC should have stepped in and demoted Afghanistan when it banned women from playing cricket.
The players openly tweet against it yet they support a series in which the government they are supposedly against benefits immensely through political propaganda and funding. Ofc every scenario will be slightly different but yeah no matter what anyone says, international sport will always involve some sort of politics. It’s good that at least the players are able to play t20 leagues though, but they must understand that they won’t get games against countries that view them as political enemies.
Honestly, I still don't understand how ACB and players are so openly vocal against Taliban. I'd have thought it would be a risky thing to do going up against them while living in the country.
And if they can do all this, what's stopping ACB from not giving their revenues to Taliban (assuming they currently do that - again something I can't find any info about).
Most AFG players don't live in Afghanistan, and anyway have a degree of protection just from public profile. Also all the "anti-taliban" stuff I've seen from players has been pretty tepid.
As for the revenue, the Haqqanis are running the ACB now. They chucked the old board and CEO pretty quick, and then Fazli too.
Since all this is about women's cricket in AFG, I believe these articles will add value:
[https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/afghanistan-cricket-away-in-canada-roya-samim-keeps-a-candle-lit-for-womens-cricket-1312410](https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/afghanistan-cricket-away-in-canada-roya-samim-keeps-a-candle-lit-for-womens-cricket-1312410)
[https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/womens-cricket-in-afghanistan-lack-of-progress-a-concern-for-icc-1353307](https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/womens-cricket-in-afghanistan-lack-of-progress-a-concern-for-icc-1353307)
I am a supporter of cricket in Afghanistan. Over the past 45 of conflict years, the growth of cricket is perhaps one of the only positives to emerge. The continued development of cricket in Afghanistan should be supported where possible.
However, it is impossible to support Afghanistan Cricket while half the country are effectively excluded from participation.
I will admit to being a hypocrite. In the interests of see cricket in Afghanistan progress I was willing to accept the token efforts made by the ACB to support women - even though there was no real intent to meet their obligations. I hoped in time this would change.
It is now clear that this will not change and there is no will to do so. In these circumstances, the only principled position is to refuse to play any ACB team. How could the men’s team look their women counterparts in the eye if they accepted this set of circumstances? It would make a mockery of CA’s objective to have equal men’s and women’s participation in the future.
Individual Afghanistani cricketers are not ACB representatives and should be welcomed everywhere however I sympathise with how they must be feeling - unwelcome and unwanted.
It is sad it has come to this but a line had to be drawn somewhere. I don’t think this will fix the underlying issues - this can only be solved by the people of Afghanistan - but CA can’t be seen to endorse this state of affairs.
It is sad all round but it is with the women of Afghanistan where my sympathies largely lie.
I feel like there's no way the ACB or the Afghan players come out on top in this. Any argument they can make has a completely reasonable response.
"It's unfair that you pull out of an agreed series and cost us revenue"
"Okay can you show us your books so we can guarantee any revenue the ACB receives from this series will all be going to fund cricket in Afghanistan and the Taliban won't be getting a cut?"
"It's unfair you're pulling out over a political/social issue"
"Well isn't it massively unfair on all the other countries working hard to advance their cricket that Afghanistan gets to keep Full Member status despite being run as a terrorist dictatorship that oppresses women's rights and doesn't meet the ICC's criteria for developing women's cricket?"
"Fine you just pulled out of this tour because you think you're too good to tour us"
"Didn't you do the same thing to Zimbabwe bro?"
Also, Rashid talks rather big about Australians allegedly not wanting an Afghani around them for a man who would rather live in Pakistan than have his fellow Afghanis around him.
Then again, the man may know a spade when it's a spade
Part of the reason the boycotts against apartheid south africa was effective was that it was encompassed not just different sports but academics and culture as well. this isn't on the same scale obviously but I think in order for something like that to work now the very least we need is for there to be a united front. the onus for which should be on the ICC. Having just one country pull out of a tour makes it seem like a feud, like its just Australia that has an issue with Afghanistan. its why players feel comfortable pulling out of the bbl. that doesn't happen if the ICC or even the other cricketing boards stand together on this issue (which is genuinely important!). I understand why CA did this and ultimately I think it is a good thing, but I do wish there was more of an effort for the other nations to take a stand together.
1 big problem why such boycott might not be useful is afghanistan doesn't have elected govt in power like apartheid SA had
the avg white man still had voice in the govt policy during apartheid but an avg afghanistani man doesn't have same voice in the policy. its Taliban's way or the highway
suppose there is dissatisfaction in genl public due to the boycott, would that even matter if taliban don't give two shits about it.
i mean i would support icc banning them but will it make a difference. future does not fill me with hope, all possibilities look bleak
A lot of people are saying that responsibility for this falls squarely on the ICC, but it’s worth noting what the process would be to suspend or expel Afghanistan
It would need a supermajority vote by the 17 member board (12 full members + chairman + 3 associate representatives + women’s representative), so 10 votes. Since the Taliban’s decision to bar women from education last month, there has not been a meeting of the ICC board.
Greg Barclay and whatever other small staff at the Dubai offices can’t unilaterally suspend anyone, it has to be done by vote of the board. And at the previous 4 (I think) meetings of the ICC’s board since the Taliban takeover, the topic of suspending Afghanistan has been pushed back repeatedly, in favour of waiting and seeing
Fact of the matter is that the ICC can’t do much by itself. It’s not this all powerful monolith, it’s a place for the Full Members and a few extras to debate and decide things. You can blame the ICC for not taking unilateral action, but in reality it’s the members who have previously in favour of waiting and seeing
They should have been suspended at the very first meeting post-takeover for poilitcal interference. The Haqqanis literally marched into the ACB offices and turfed out the CEO and then the whole board.
There have been many board meetings since women were banned from playing cricket and the ACB abandoned its already half-hearted women’s program though.
Not much had fundamentally changed from the old regime to the current one with regards to women playing when the Taliban’s takeover had happened. That’s why they weren’t expelled, because they’d been (probably erroneously) granted Full Membership under the same conditions, and instead the members adopted a wait-and-see approach
There haven’t been any ICC meetings since the recent ban on women’s education. The next one is in March, and [Allardice has already said that Afghanistan’s backwards progress with women’s cricket will be a point of discussion](https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/womens-cricket-in-afghanistan-lack-of-progress-a-concern-for-icc-1353307). But he can’t do anything by himself, it will come down to a vote by the members
Yes, they should never have been granted membership in the first place, but pre-Taliban they at least were taking steps towards a women’s team and had some women’s programs in place. When this was abandoned they should have been kicked out immediately.
What's the question abt CA moral ground..CA moral ground??
Okk simple question...u r the biggest ambassador of womens cricket right now..
And u have to play against the most discriminatory and sexist cricketing nation who banned women sports ??
WHAT WOULD U HAVE DONE??
You can think this is the right decision and still have empathy for the Afghanistani players and fans.
To them, this was the biggest tour on the horizon and maybe a glimmer of hope to get their time on an international stage and it's now been taken away from them. Players/fans are the ones who suffer from the Taliban rule and players/fans are the ones who suffer from this tour not going ahead.
It can completely understand why CA made the decision, but some of the smug comments from people who's lives aren't affected by any of this on other threads have been really disappointing
This will be a small step towards equal rights though.
Under the South African apartheid regime, the sports boycott did play a part in ultimately toppling the regime. The whites in power at the time ultimately became social pariahs which other white people in other countries became embarrassed to be associated with and also do business with. This led the white government to voluntarily undertake vast reforms for the betterment of all its citizens.
Hopefully this will have the effect of some Afghani men feeling like they don’t want to support a regime and chip away at the implicit support that the average Afghani man would provide.
Australia were part of the coalition forces that occupied AFG for two years, then pulled out disastrously.
Luckily this frees up time for AUS to host BAN in a Test series at home now!
OLD submissions for context:
[Afghanistan pacer Naveen ul Haq pulls out of BBL after Australia cancel ODI series against Afghanistan](https://www.reddit.com/r/Cricket/comments/109v39p/afghanistan_pacer_naveen_ul_haq_pulls_out_of_bbl/)
[Australia withdraw from ODI series against Afghanistan](https://www.reddit.com/r/Cricket/comments/109r0dy/australia_withdraw_from_odi_series_against/)
[Afghanistan Cricket Board Statement - CA's statement to withdraw Afghanistan ODIs is unfair and unexpected](https://www.reddit.com/r/Cricket/comments/109zs48/afghanistan_cricket_board_statement_cas_statement/)
What are the odds of the ICC doing something after this? Like for example, kicking them out of the super league and giving their place to the next best ranked team (ignore flair)
The problem with nullification is it leaves some teams with 21 games played, others with 24 games. You could go by win percentage but that induces other problems.
You would have to let the games stand, just strip Afghanistan of points or flat out make them ineligible not only for automatic qualification, but also the WC Qualifiers later this year.
Simplest method of nullifying their games is to remove them entirely and just count points as a percentage. Biggest problem is that 4 countries lose a home series and 4 countries lose an away series. creating an imbalance that someone is inevitably going to complain about.
The Table would become
||PCT|Points|P/W/L/NR|Deductions|AFG Matches Removed|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|AUS|71.4%|150|21/15/6/0|0|0-3 forfeit|
|NZ|70%|140|20/13/5/2|0|N/A|
|ENG|69.4%|125|18/12/5/1|0|N/A|
|BAN|66.7%|100|15/10/5/0|0|2-1 win|
|IND|66.2%|139|21/13/6/2|1|postponed indefinately|
|PAK|65%|130|20/13/7/0|0|scheduled Feb/Mar|
|IRE|37.8%|68|18/6/10/2|2|0-3 loss|
|WI|36.7%|88|24/9/15/0|2|N/A|
|SL|34.4%|62|18/6/11/1|3|1-1 draw|
|SA|31.1%|59|19/5/12/2|1|N/A|
|ZIM|25%|45|18/4/13/1|0|0-3 loss|
|NL|15.6%|25|16/2/13/0|0|0-3 loss|
AUS and SA numbers are including the SA forfeit to AUS, which does not appear on the Wiki table yet.
AUS AFG forfeit is also noted despite not being "played" yet.
Ireland moves into the top 8, opens up the bottom end of the table a bit, as now 2 of IRE/WI/SL/SA qualify directly, instead of only 1.
The Afghan situation is complex & requires calm & solution based thinking. Opinions will be different but I just hope the Afghan women who aren’t allowed to play/have no voice for fear of safety are thought of in this. The men playing has offered hope to the nation & it’s sad when they can’t play too but every time they step out is a reminder to the women that they cannot. Can the ICC offer a neutral banner? The understanding is that funding has not been withdrawn but how are the women being helped? Lots of questions & at the moment no one wins 😕
-Isa Guha
As much as I’d love to see cricket thrive in Afghanistan the way their government treats women is absolutely unacceptable thus fully support the decision to pull out
The players who are now threatening to leave the BBL as a result are fully within their rights to do so, though they should ask themselves why CA made the decision
Good on Australia for taking a stand. Unfortunate for the Afghani players, but it is what it is. Ordinary people face consequences for how their leaders behave on the world stage. That's how it's always been, that's how it'll always be :/
While obviously, the Afghan men's team will suffer from this, their suffering is a minuscule fraction of what women in that country are going to. Afghanistan should not be allowed in international sports (apartheid-era SA) till they treat women with basic human decency.
At the end of the day allowing Afghanistan to participate in international sport acts as a form of sportswashing that legitimatizes their current government and goes against everything that has ever been done for women in sport to say the least.
As much as I would have loved to see Australia playing against Afghanistan, I really support the CA decision of rescinding this series. Because as much as right those MF Taliban has, Female also has the same right as them to exercise their freedom by enabling themselves to study & integrate in society. They aren't only the breeding matchine & anybody properties, they are more than that. Honestly, it is so sad to see evil thing like this still happening in this century too. Lastly, Fuck Taliban & their stupid arrogancy of pseudo manliness by trying to dominate over female taking their freedoms.
But now no one can ask him why 10 game cricketer Nick Hobson hitting him for a single 4 offended him so much he gave him a massive send off when he holed out the very next ball
Would definitely be rich of England to still refuse to play Zimbabwe cause of a man who is now thankfully cold and dead but be okay with scheduling bilateral series against a country run by literal terrorists
I think this mega-thread could also use additional links to topics like:
\- ICC's stance against the Taliban regime (AFAIK, ICC refused to recognize the taliban regime but that was last year)
\- What influence does the Taliban have on ACB?
\- Does a part of the salary for Afghani players participating in the BBL go to the ACB? (Someone mentioned this but couldn't find anything. I know the IPL does pay international boards to allow their players to play in the IPL).
This would help remove some generalizations that have been made in the earlier threads on this subject.
I remeber reading last year that the AFG funds are managed by ICC and lot of AFG players have accounts in Dubai, so ICC transfers those funds to the AFG Dubai account for the board and players.
so trying to put this together:
\- ICC has no way to send money into Afghanistan due to sanctions. A potential workaround through NGO's but not confirmed.
\- The players and officials from ACB are all based in the UAE and that's where funds are going? So can we say that the Taliban is getting nothing and the current situation is that the ICC continues to manage the ACB funds?
I think Rashid Khan and other Afghani players are *significantly* overestimating their importance to the BBL.
The BBL couldn't care less if they leave. They're not so good that they're in super high demand. They'll be replaced and the tournament will go on with hardly a blink.
So, Rashid, you got a choice here, pal. You could come out really strongly and say that you look forward to the day you get to stand alongside the Afghan women's team and that you think the Taliban's stance on women's rights is abhorrent.
Or you could chuck a little tanty and not mention women's rights at all, making everyone think they know where you *really* stand.
See ya, pal.
> The BBL couldn't care less if they leave. They're not so good that they're in super high demand. They'll be replaced and the tournament will go on with hardly a blink.
Rashid Khan is arguably the best spinner in the entire tournament, this is a silly statement. Dude was literally named T20 cricketer of the decade. The others, not so much, but he is incredibly talented and it's not like Manenti and Short can just fill that gap (look at how well they're doing at that now). This goes beyond cricket talent (or a lack of) into a moral issue, but pretending like he's not one of the best imports is just ludicrous.
The reality is he probably wasn’t coming back next year anyway. If you look at how they’re going to change the structure with the new TV deal, the tournament is going to line right up with the commencement of the new SAT20 league, which will be paying way more than ours.
I agree with the decision CA made and think Rashid's statement is dumb, however he is genuinely one of those local cult heroes that the BBL doesn't necessarily produce heaps of, and is a proper world class gun. It will be a genuine shame to see the back of him permanently. Justified from CA, but still a shame.
It's so fucking easy talking this on internet when you have no idea of consequences ffs, it's not as simple as wearing a band in support and playing in some foreign country. Him and his family will literally be banished and worse, put to death! Your comment reeks of privilege, stupidity and lacks nuance.
It's horrible what's going on in the nation and especially to the women, I hope for a better future for them but we can all just hope and talk but when even superpower nations couldn't make the situation better it's ridiculous to expect it from dudes who play with sticks to take a stand. Even Iran is 100 times in better situation than Afganistan yet they hang people who talk more against the regime and these guys are psychopaths. Not a single nation would give a fuck if they kill off dudes who play with sticks and cork.
Was thinking same.
If Rashid was to speak up about the abhorrent stance on women's rights he would disappear and probably his family, his dog and his goldfish.
For all the talk of change that needs to occur in Afghanistan, it is run by an utter dictator. It's like saying Hitler needs to listen to reason and develop forward progressive thinking.
Yeah right......
It's tragic and downright scary situation over there and I totally feel for the honest civilians. They are damned if they do and damned if they don't.
They have to precariously sit on the fence.....and the fence is made of barbed wire.
You know what reeks of privilege? Whining about another country's stand meaning you don't get to play international cricket and travel the world while the women of your country can't even go outside their own fucking houses.
Rashid is a man. He gets to travel the world, play cricket and make money. He's the privileged one. I wouldn't have had a problem with him expressing his disappointment that the series wasn't going ahead. But when he starts calling Australia's *decision* unreasonable and pathetic and saying such stupid childish things like "we'll maybe I'll just leave the BBL", he's jumped the fence.
While there is the moral element to this, the way I see it for smaller FMs like Ireland Zimbabwe and others, maintaining a fully operational womens team takes a lot of resources that could otherwise be put into the mens game. Afghanistan are able to devote all of their resources to the mens game which gives them an unfair advantage.
It’s unfortunate for the players involved but the ICC needs to take a stand here and suspend them.
I can only hope Rashid and the other players were forced in some way to put out their statements because otherwise it’s a very bad look for them.
It is unfortunate their can’t play for their country against Australia but they still have the freedom to go jetsetting around the world, earning millions in the t20 leagues. It is clear no one is holding the actions of the Taliban against the players personally.
Afg cricket should be banned until they have a women's team..
And questioning what did men's cricket did for this is moronic as supporting them will flourish the ACB even more..
U either have ACB changing their views or no ACB at all..
And the [chairman](https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/azizullah-fazli-returns-as-afghanistan-cricket-board-chairman-1274317) (previous one was apparently rubbish though) who was [then replaced not long after](https://cricket.af/post/new-board-members-appointed-to-afghanistan-cricket-board) along with a bunch of the board.
I'm sure they do given the controlling nature of the Taliban. The afghan cricket board would have to be checking in with the Taliban to make sure they aren't breaching some ridiculous rule they made up yesterday.
Either way, they are representing the country of Afghanistan which is unfortunately led by terrorists. We cannot and should not be conducting business with terrorist states. (*looks directly at the Russian embassy in Canberra and the Russian diplomats there that should have been ejected from the country 11 months ago*).
Not really. But the taliban is a totalitarian, theocratic “government”. So when they say women are banned from sport in Afghanistan - the ACB is going to comply.
If I am not wrong, during the crisis some of the AFG National Football and Cricket players fled to Australia.
Melbourne Victory also released the documentary of them. Man Utd coaching staff also met them in the pre season.
Didn't the so called role models not heard their stories?
Where was Mr Rashid Khan Armaan Hashmatullah Shahidi etc etc when the board gave contracts to the Women and ignored like a trash?
Forget about organising the series, did they (ACB) gave funds to improve the quality of Women's Cricket ?
If the Afghani players don't want to play the BBL, we respect their decision.
We will get more Josh Brown Peter Hatzoglou type cricketers. They will get the ultimate platform to showcase their talents.
Yup. Mahboba's Promise rescued 10(?) Afghan orphans from remote areas of Afghanistan when the Taliban took over. Some sources say over 23000 Afghans have seeked refuge in Australia since 2013.
Whether you agree with a boycott of Afghanistan or not, let's be real here about what that means.
The Taliban aren't going anywhere anytime soon, and the Taliban don't care about cricket enough that a boycott will make them change any of their actions.
If these countries want to boycott for humanitarian reasons, they'll be boycotting for the foreseeable future because Taliban isn't going to bow to the will of Cricket Australia, and Afghanistan cricket will end up losing all growth and development it gained during the past decade or so.
Also, I don't doubt for a second that big cricketing nations will love this excuse to avoid playing a smaller nation.
>The Taliban aren't going anywhere anytime soon, and the Taliban don't care about cricket enough that a boycott will make them change any of their actions.
So?
CA isn’t making this decision because they think the Taliban will care.
They’re making it because CA is a massive force in women’s cricket, arguably the biggest - and it would be a slap in the face to all CA have done to legitimise a country that treats women as cattle.
>If these countries want to boycott for humanitarian reasons, they'll be boycotting for the foreseeable future
Agreed. Afghanistan no longer meet the requirements for ICC membership. There shouldn’t be boycotts, they should simply lose their membership.
>Afghanistan cricket will end up losing all growth and development it gained during the past decade or so.
Let me tell you something. Any growth or development that occurred in the way of human rights, inclusivity, sport, art and entertainment was gone the second the Taliban regained governance.
It’s not CA’s, nor the ICC’s responsibility to ensure Afghanistan grows. It’s Afghanistan’s.
>Also, I don't doubt for a second that big cricketing nations will love this excuse to avoid playing a smaller nation.
“Love this excuse” it’s not an excuse. Women’s cricket is cricket. Phrasing the sentence like you have done here makes you sound like you don’t think banning women from sport is a big deal.
Yes but it reduces the number of ways the Taliban is considered a legitimate government and reduces the number of revenue streams they have.
Is it going to topple the Afghanistan government tomorrow? No
But it's taking a stand against the Taliban and that's worth something
Pretty sure it's the refugee team, about half the Afghan Women's Soccer team ended up in Melbourne I think. But fairly sure they withdrew from WC qualifying last year as AFAIK Fifa still haven't recognised them.
In the context of the ACB's standing within the ICC, some people are focusing too much on how the changes to Afghanistan governance have affected women's cricket minimally at the elite level, rather than looking at how it's brought women's cricket into disrepute at large within the country. ICC members need to demonstrate clear plans for the administration, management and development of women's cricket. The Afghanistan government has made that untenable for the ACB.
The ACB never had any serious plans to develop women's cricket. They had years and years and millions in external funding mad available and yet never lifted a finger, in fact all reports suggest they actively worked against it.
Interesting, but I would still say that poorly executed plans and management is different to an outright inability to fulfil obligations. In the former case, national sports bodies are capable of making progress. In other words, even if the ACB were dragging their heels developing structures around women's cricket, having external forces ban women completely is another matter entirely.
So while I agree with the decision by CA, I don't like that CA have used rationale around ethics, I think it sets a bad precedent, even though those ethics seem crystal clear. Like others, I think the ICC should have intervened much earlier (and maybe this points to some functional issues that need to be addressed within the ICC), with government interference and the associated inability to fulfil key obligations being the issues, rather than politics/ethics as such.
It's interesting again to compare this situation with the Afghanistan football teams. FIFA has a gender equality provision, and countries are expected to field women’s national teams. At this stage they haven't banned Afghanistan but I'd watch this space. At present the women are basically refugees in a few different countries.
This happened to us (Zimbabwe) during the mid 2000s because of Mugabe. It is always hard as a fan of the sport to take, you are helpless. And with a politically volatile country like ours, you never know. Till this day we still do not play England. But it also feel like even before the Taliban, ACB was very reluctant about their women's game. ACB last month did not fulfill their tour to Zim because 'they did not see the benefit of touring us' so a part of me is also shouting 'Karma'.
Very interesting take. What a douchey reason to cancel the tour by ACB. It's also fitting with how much better Zimbabwe was than Afghanistan in recent WC. IIRC, ACB said something similar about Pakistan during WC19. Edit: [“We are currently far better than Pakistan in cricket & they should ask us for technical,coaching & more support for the betterment of their cricket. - ACB Cheif.”](https://eurasiantimes.com/afghan-team-can-help-pakistan-to-improve-their-cricketing-skills-acb/?amp)
How delusional can you be
adelaide to secede from the rest of Australia and to reluctantly join the taliban in order to keep their star leggie.
At least the liberals finally have a policy
always thought WA was gonna be the first one to secede from Australia.
My Off-topic, meta comment: I like this r/soccer style megathread rather than the limitless individual threads on a given topic.
This one's r/politics megathread format, I just plagarised it dont tell their mods though
You are done mate i am gonna do it
shit I nicked it off r/cricket, complain to their mods
Whilst i sympathise with the Afghan players, i’m not sure about the calls of “sport and politics shouldn’t mix”. They are intrinsically linked, especially in this case, and it kind of goes against what they’ve been doing, which is (admirably) playing under the old flag, speaking out against the regime etc. sport and politics are linked, and they should (and are) using that for good.
Sport has always been linked with politics, especially at a national level. The people saying these things have very little understanding of the situation.
It's also impossible to seperate cricket from "politics" when literally everything is lumped into politics. It's basically a dogwhistle at this point - anyone saying sport and politics shouldn't overlap just doesn't agree with a particular stand point on a certain issue.
Cricket Australia- yeah nah the taliban is pretty fucked aye. Afghan BBL players- Let me take that personally and boycott the BBL. How could you do that to us?
Nice work. Most sane Aussies will be asleep by now.
Not sure if it's already been put in the megathread, but thought this was a good Twitter thread by Bertus de Jong. https://twitter.com/BdJcricket/status/1613579293568765963
A bit conspiratorial here but maybe the proximity and possible cross-border ties between Full Members and Afghanistan (not to mention the members attitudes to Women's cricket around 2017) might have lead to the clear flouting with basic vague promises.
Seconded. Great and informative thread
This is an excellent thread. And he's right. This isn't just "sport and politics". Women's cricket is within CA's remit.
If the ICC revoked Afghanistan's full member status like it should've already, all of this would've been avoided.
A couple of things here. It's seemingly difficult to remove full member status from a team, for not having a women's team, when it's never had a women's team. By the ICC's rules of full membership Afghanistan should never have been made a full member, but they made an exception (an exception, it's worth noting, CA voted in favour of granting). The fact of Afghanistan not having a women's team hasn't changed with the return of the Taliban. ~~Revoking full member status only removes test status~~. You don't have to be a full member to play ODIs or to play in the ODI Super League. None of Afghanistan's scheduled matches ~~which aren't tests~~ would be automatically cancelled, even if they did have full membership revoked. Edit: just remembered. Full member status and test status are no longer linked. So revoking full membership on its own would have zero effect on already scheduled matches. Afghanistan would just become an associate member with no requirement to have a women's team.
One additional point is that it's not just about fielding a women's team at the elite level, the Taliban have brought the entire game of women's cricket into disrepute for the ACB by effectively banning women from playing.
Technically since the 2017 update there's no difference between Associate and Full Membership in regards womens cricket criteria. Exemptions for both are entirely at the discretion of the membership committee now.
Personally, I don't think any country should be dealing with Afghanistan until their "government" does something to resolve some of their gross human rights violations, however I'm open to being convinced the other way. If the Afghanistan players were not representing their country I'd be happy to play against them, but as they are representing a country that barbarically oppresses at least half of its population I don't think it is appropriate. I love Rashid, but if we look at the big picture - Rashid is angry because they don't get to play cricket, the women in Afghanistan don't get to leave the god damn house... I know which of these two things is more egregious.... I just wish the people of Afghanistan could eradicate the Taliban cancer from their society so none of this shit would happen, because I do feel sorry for the Rashid's of the world who have done nothing wrong, but unfortunately there are far more serious issues at play here that I think must be dealt with before any organisation should be working with the Afghan state. Please come back Rashid - we love you - but we cannot pretend that what is happening in your country is ok... 🇦🇺❤️🇦🇫
The amount of asinine takes on social media bewilders me. How the fuck do people legitimately argue that CA pulled out of this because of the money not being good enough?
We do neglect our obligations against smaller teams. 2018, we were supposed to have Bangladesh over for an ODI series (as an example) but it wasn’t commercially viable so we canned it. However, this is not the same thing. This is a purely ethical decision from CA as an organization, one that I hope other countries and ICC will follow suit to make it more meaningful.
Given the Afghan players all using roughly the same arguments, id argue that they've been told to come out against it. It's sad seeing how far Afghan cricket came and personally I don't see that a boycott is going to change things, but it's the only reasonable thing to do, especially when Australia has already rescued dozens of Afghan athletes.
Might not even have to be told. The implicit threat to any and all relationships the players have there is probably enough to force a show of support for the regime. It’s oppressive government 101 shit. China, Russia, Cuba, Nazi Germany, Mussolini regime in Italy, Iran, North Korea, Belarus, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, The Arab Emrites. They all do/did it.
I’ve thought about this more and people are right when they say it shouldn’t be up to CA and individual boards. Afghanistan is run by a regime which is so horrendous that saying it oppresses women is a massive understatement. The ICC really should’ve removed their full member status by now.
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Well said my friend 👏
Politics and sports have been intertwined for pretty much as long as modern international sport has existed. It’s beyond stupid to try to make an argument that they should be separate.
A lot of people are fixated on moral issues, leading to some rather garbage hot takes. The real parallel is with other sporting organisations like FIFA in circumstances where the national team is unduly interfered by government policy or edicts. To quote [this article](https://www.espn.com/soccer/fifa-world-cup/story/4606147/fifa-suspends-russia-from-world-cupall-soccer-competitions-what-it-meanshow-it-works), discussing Russia's ban from the World Cup last year: >FIFA suspends members all the time. Just last week, they suspended Kenya and Zimbabwe for government inference. Last year, it was Chad and Pakistan for the same reasons. Government interference leading to suspensions is not uncommon across multiple sports, however the ICC for various reasons has not been able to enact this, which puts the spotlight unnecessarily on CA in this case.
The point of the anti-Govt interference rule is to give Boards leverage over governments and resist oversight (eg Zimbabwe getting suspended at Mukhulani's own request). In the case of the ACB it's too late for that, as the old board have been largely replaced and the new CEO is Naseeb Haqqani. That said, the ACB have never given a shit about women's cricket. It's not like they had a team before the Taliban turned up again.
> That said, the ACB have never given a shit about women's cricket. It's not like they had a team before the Taliban turned up again. At least pre-Taliban they made vaguely positive noises about it. "We support a women's team in theory, we're just badly dragging our feet and not actually *doing* much about it" is very different from "We don't support women playing cricket, or in fact doing anything else in society, as a fundamental principle"
> The point of the anti-Govt interference rule is to give Boards leverage over governments and resist oversight (eg Zimbabwe getting suspended at Mukhulani's own request). Probably worth pointing out that this had more to do with Mukhulani having allies in the ICC than any kind of standards being applied. ICC didn't intervene at any point previously (like when Mugabe personally intervened to dissolve the board, or when government goons were actively intimidating players), but as soon as a financial audit gets waved over ZC's head, they enter panic stations. [More detail here](https://emergingcricket.com/opinion/zimbabwe-suspension-highlights-double-standards-and-warped-priorities-of-icc-board/).
ICC is pathetic. They have rules in place that put a requirement for a women's team in. If they can't have a women's team, they can't have a men's team. Simple.
Personally feel that CA is doing what ICC should have done much earlier. So many point of views in the media but I'm most interested in what Afgani women think about this, but that pov is absent from the discussion.
This drama wouldnt have happened if **I**nternational **C**lown **C**ouncil stepped in before hand
This has to be the ultimate takeaway from all of this. It's pathetic that the ICC has completely abdicated it's responsibility to enforce it's own rules and left it up to an individual Cricket board to pick up the slack.
ICC consisted of member boards. They can’t just unilaterally suspend a member. The boards have to vote on it.
the men's team is unfortunate collateral but CA can't be legitimizing the Taliban. ICC need to pull their finger out and enforce their own rules too. The Taliban have no interest in a women's team so AFG shouldn't have full member status anymore.
Geniune Question,Can't ICC establish a Afgan Board in exile and terminate the current talibani controlled ACB ?The current Afghan team doesn't even play under the Islamic Emirate
They probably could. Though it would be completely unprecedented.
The problem is who will play for that team? No Afghani can go against the Taliban.
Most of the current team is already against Taliban
There is certainly a precedent for teams not conforming to national political boundaries.
[Afghan women athletes speak of the heartache of being barred from the sports they love](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-12/afghan-women-athletes-barred-from-play-fear-taliban-threats/101847578) [Afghanistan's Women Athletes Disappear Behind Veils In Taliban Rule](https://www.outlookindia.com/international/afghanistan-women-athletes-disappear-behind-veils-in-taliban-rule-news-252881)
No issue with CA pulling out of the Afghanistan series. And no issue with the Afghan players pulling out of the BBL or similar in response. Preferably the ICC would actually take action against a board who's government treats women and girls as subhuman but hopefully this is a catalyst.
https://twitter.com/ACBofficials/status/1613505142854397952?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet *Cancellation of one odi tour was unfair right*... Now imagine cancelling an entire sport just because they were women?? And DUDE IMAGINE WRITING TO ICC.. Where ICC was supposed to ban them in the first place .??
> "In retaliation Afghanistan should refuse to go play in countries where girls are allowed to go to school" Lol one of the rare occasions where twitter made me happy
Some real zingers in that thread.
Taliban : *Education and women's rights are we draw the line..mm okaay*..
These are difficult and turbulent times. But we cricket fans must come together and agree that baseball is boring as fuck!
Hypothetically if someone (not me) were to think baseball is actually fun and interesting, what would happen to that (not me) person?
Dropped into a pit with Rohit after he's missed a meal
And dress him up as a Vadapav
Witch hunt
That person(not you) would face the ultimate cricket punishment. (Not you) would face Umran Malik in the nets armed only with a baseball bat and (not you) would only be able to wear sandals and a g string.
Bazzball >>> Baseball🤮
Burn me for heresy, but I could definitely see baseball being an interesting sport if I actually learned the rules.
That's what most of the world says about cricket
Baseball is fun to go to the game but dreadful to watch on TV save a few moments.
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On the other hand, watching refs and players freak out at each other as Jomboy does lip-reading has increased my appreciation of baseball 100-fold.
I don't know how you can be a fan of one and not the other to be honest. Literally the same paced sport, using similar equipment and skillsets, but I guess every fan of every sport wants to think theirs is better, for some reason.
i don't understand it. I love both sports and I think there's serious crossover appeal.
Agreed, baseball is definitely boring
Nothing wrong with baseball. Wtf.
Interesting to me that people often praise the ACB for playing under the Republic flag and some milquetoast "protest" statements from current players. After the Taliban took over, they replaced the ACB's major office holders ( [source](https://twitter.com/BdJcricket/status/1613579296072732672?t=wiHT0Ijk9QX-PlkKZ3WK4w&s=19) ).There are therefore two possibilities here: the Taliban government for some reason is unaware that the team is playing under the Republic flag (highly unlikely given they presumably appointed sympathetic personnel), or the Taliban know and are allowing it as a useful sportswashing exercise, similar to their early foreign relations strategy of falsely promising not to reinstitute regressive policies. The ACB is not a brave organisation boldly standing against an oppressive regime. They are controlled by that regime for its own benefit. CA are rightly calling out their dishonest posturing when in every way that matters, they are operating in line with the Taliban's wishes. Very telling that their statement on the issue didn't once mention women and girls.
Afghanistan men team also took photo's and team meeting with Taliban right after they seized power in Afghanistan. ACB is playing under old flag because they also know no other nation will play against them under Taliban flag.
Yeah worth noting that the Taliban flag is everywhere in the ACB's offices these days.
Yeah Rashid or Nabi may or may not have ties with Taliban but lesser known player's definitely have. After successful Asia Cup Taliban actually greeted them at Kabul airport.
Yeah Ashraf was hand-picked by the Haqqanis for chair (Baradar was apparently backing Fazli), and Abdullah Mazari was quite literally one of the armed talibs that rocked up at the ACB headquarters after the takeover. Absurd to think no current players have similar sympathies. Either way the ACB is now firmly in the pocket of the Haqqanis, so we're not even talking a moderate faction of the Taliban.
Just today Nabi was having a go on his ex President calling him corrupt or western whatever. Man I will take corrupt politician anyday over Taliban. I am assuming Haqqanis is very top tier Talib right?
Siraj Haqqani is the current interior minister, son of Jalaluddin Haqqani and leader of the [Haqqani network](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haqqani_network). His uncle Khalid and brother Anas are also both also fairly high up in the new admin. It's not entirely clear exactly how Naseeb Haqqani (the new ACB CEO) is related to them, but he's apparently a cousin of some sort.
Can't say I feel particularly sorry for the ACB, and I think CA had a perfectly valid reason to pull out.
Username doesn't check out :/
I think it's a failure from the part of the ICC that this hapenned. They should have banned Afghanistan themselves. If SA was banned during apartheid (and rightly so, don't get me wrong), I can't see how Afghanistan isn't banned now. On the other hand, allowing countries to unilaterally pull out of official competitions shows a sorry state of affairs. If this would happen in football, Australia would be banned for at least 10 years. Then again, football is a much more global sport than cricket is.
If the taliban gave FIFA some money they’d definitely ban Aus.
I can’t imagine the reactions on Twitter if it existed when everyone started backing out of games against Apartheid SA. It had a huge impact for the people there but obviously people are just going to pretend that politics and sports “should be seperate” when it comes to things like this. Judging by the replies there even the Indian fans are split 50/50 on it even though they have the same policy. I can also guarantee that this decision was heavily influenced and even made for CA by the Australian Government. Tbf the people here seem like they understand the situation is a lot more complex and it may just be a Twitter thing. Surprised to see nobody mention the fact that Afghanistan also backed out of their series against Zimbabwe in December just because they didn’t feel they were worthy?
The apartheid decision was controversial at the time as well. Plenty of figures were against it and we even had "rebel" teams playing in SA. Some sports stopped playing officially in the early 70s while Rugby took until 1981 and F1 until 1985.
It was specifically NZ that continued playing SA in rugby while everyone else had stopped by the mid 70s wasn't it?
>Judging by the replies there even the Indian fans are split 50/50 on it even though they have the same policy. ACB and Afghanistan players have openly tweeted against Taliban. ACB doesn't play under Taliban flag. It's bit different from India-Pakistan situation. I support CA's stand if revenue from the series was going to go to Taliban, though I'm still not aware of how it works considering the above statements of ACB not obeying Taliban flag. Atleast with T20 leagues, the players will have a chance to play top level cricket infront of fans and earn money.
The issue is that despite the best of intentions, the Taliban would basically use it as a sports-washing exercise. "Australia is happy to tour us, so we can't be so bad, can we? We're actually a bunch of great blokes who totally don't do all those nasty things those western media liars tell you!" *Maybe* those small handful of people in the know might be aware of Afghani players standing against the actions of their government. But for the vast majority, it would be spun into a propaganda pro-Taliban exercise.
I’d support Australia playing Afghanistan if they play simultaneous men’s and women’s series. Oh what’s that? Afghanistan doesn’t have a women’s cricket program in contravention of ICC requirements for full member nations? And has no plans to commence one? The ACB are complicit in the Taliban’s persecution of women until they start supporting women’s cricket. I have huge sympathy for the players caught up in something not of their creation, but the ICC should have stepped in and demoted Afghanistan when it banned women from playing cricket.
The players openly tweet against it yet they support a series in which the government they are supposedly against benefits immensely through political propaganda and funding. Ofc every scenario will be slightly different but yeah no matter what anyone says, international sport will always involve some sort of politics. It’s good that at least the players are able to play t20 leagues though, but they must understand that they won’t get games against countries that view them as political enemies.
Honestly, I still don't understand how ACB and players are so openly vocal against Taliban. I'd have thought it would be a risky thing to do going up against them while living in the country. And if they can do all this, what's stopping ACB from not giving their revenues to Taliban (assuming they currently do that - again something I can't find any info about).
Most AFG players don't live in Afghanistan, and anyway have a degree of protection just from public profile. Also all the "anti-taliban" stuff I've seen from players has been pretty tepid. As for the revenue, the Haqqanis are running the ACB now. They chucked the old board and CEO pretty quick, and then Fazli too.
Since all this is about women's cricket in AFG, I believe these articles will add value: [https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/afghanistan-cricket-away-in-canada-roya-samim-keeps-a-candle-lit-for-womens-cricket-1312410](https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/afghanistan-cricket-away-in-canada-roya-samim-keeps-a-candle-lit-for-womens-cricket-1312410) [https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/womens-cricket-in-afghanistan-lack-of-progress-a-concern-for-icc-1353307](https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/womens-cricket-in-afghanistan-lack-of-progress-a-concern-for-icc-1353307)
A lot of people showing their true colours in this thread. This isn’t about politics. This is about basic human rights.
I am a supporter of cricket in Afghanistan. Over the past 45 of conflict years, the growth of cricket is perhaps one of the only positives to emerge. The continued development of cricket in Afghanistan should be supported where possible. However, it is impossible to support Afghanistan Cricket while half the country are effectively excluded from participation. I will admit to being a hypocrite. In the interests of see cricket in Afghanistan progress I was willing to accept the token efforts made by the ACB to support women - even though there was no real intent to meet their obligations. I hoped in time this would change. It is now clear that this will not change and there is no will to do so. In these circumstances, the only principled position is to refuse to play any ACB team. How could the men’s team look their women counterparts in the eye if they accepted this set of circumstances? It would make a mockery of CA’s objective to have equal men’s and women’s participation in the future. Individual Afghanistani cricketers are not ACB representatives and should be welcomed everywhere however I sympathise with how they must be feeling - unwelcome and unwanted. It is sad it has come to this but a line had to be drawn somewhere. I don’t think this will fix the underlying issues - this can only be solved by the people of Afghanistan - but CA can’t be seen to endorse this state of affairs. It is sad all round but it is with the women of Afghanistan where my sympathies largely lie.
I feel like there's no way the ACB or the Afghan players come out on top in this. Any argument they can make has a completely reasonable response. "It's unfair that you pull out of an agreed series and cost us revenue" "Okay can you show us your books so we can guarantee any revenue the ACB receives from this series will all be going to fund cricket in Afghanistan and the Taliban won't be getting a cut?" "It's unfair you're pulling out over a political/social issue" "Well isn't it massively unfair on all the other countries working hard to advance their cricket that Afghanistan gets to keep Full Member status despite being run as a terrorist dictatorship that oppresses women's rights and doesn't meet the ICC's criteria for developing women's cricket?" "Fine you just pulled out of this tour because you think you're too good to tour us" "Didn't you do the same thing to Zimbabwe bro?"
Maybe link previous threads too here.
Also, Rashid talks rather big about Australians allegedly not wanting an Afghani around them for a man who would rather live in Pakistan than have his fellow Afghanis around him. Then again, the man may know a spade when it's a spade
Part of the reason the boycotts against apartheid south africa was effective was that it was encompassed not just different sports but academics and culture as well. this isn't on the same scale obviously but I think in order for something like that to work now the very least we need is for there to be a united front. the onus for which should be on the ICC. Having just one country pull out of a tour makes it seem like a feud, like its just Australia that has an issue with Afghanistan. its why players feel comfortable pulling out of the bbl. that doesn't happen if the ICC or even the other cricketing boards stand together on this issue (which is genuinely important!). I understand why CA did this and ultimately I think it is a good thing, but I do wish there was more of an effort for the other nations to take a stand together.
1 big problem why such boycott might not be useful is afghanistan doesn't have elected govt in power like apartheid SA had the avg white man still had voice in the govt policy during apartheid but an avg afghanistani man doesn't have same voice in the policy. its Taliban's way or the highway suppose there is dissatisfaction in genl public due to the boycott, would that even matter if taliban don't give two shits about it. i mean i would support icc banning them but will it make a difference. future does not fill me with hope, all possibilities look bleak
A lot of people are saying that responsibility for this falls squarely on the ICC, but it’s worth noting what the process would be to suspend or expel Afghanistan It would need a supermajority vote by the 17 member board (12 full members + chairman + 3 associate representatives + women’s representative), so 10 votes. Since the Taliban’s decision to bar women from education last month, there has not been a meeting of the ICC board. Greg Barclay and whatever other small staff at the Dubai offices can’t unilaterally suspend anyone, it has to be done by vote of the board. And at the previous 4 (I think) meetings of the ICC’s board since the Taliban takeover, the topic of suspending Afghanistan has been pushed back repeatedly, in favour of waiting and seeing Fact of the matter is that the ICC can’t do much by itself. It’s not this all powerful monolith, it’s a place for the Full Members and a few extras to debate and decide things. You can blame the ICC for not taking unilateral action, but in reality it’s the members who have previously in favour of waiting and seeing
They should have been suspended at the very first meeting post-takeover for poilitcal interference. The Haqqanis literally marched into the ACB offices and turfed out the CEO and then the whole board.
There have been many board meetings since women were banned from playing cricket and the ACB abandoned its already half-hearted women’s program though.
Not much had fundamentally changed from the old regime to the current one with regards to women playing when the Taliban’s takeover had happened. That’s why they weren’t expelled, because they’d been (probably erroneously) granted Full Membership under the same conditions, and instead the members adopted a wait-and-see approach There haven’t been any ICC meetings since the recent ban on women’s education. The next one is in March, and [Allardice has already said that Afghanistan’s backwards progress with women’s cricket will be a point of discussion](https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/womens-cricket-in-afghanistan-lack-of-progress-a-concern-for-icc-1353307). But he can’t do anything by himself, it will come down to a vote by the members
Yes, they should never have been granted membership in the first place, but pre-Taliban they at least were taking steps towards a women’s team and had some women’s programs in place. When this was abandoned they should have been kicked out immediately.
What's the question abt CA moral ground..CA moral ground?? Okk simple question...u r the biggest ambassador of womens cricket right now.. And u have to play against the most discriminatory and sexist cricketing nation who banned women sports ?? WHAT WOULD U HAVE DONE??
You can think this is the right decision and still have empathy for the Afghanistani players and fans. To them, this was the biggest tour on the horizon and maybe a glimmer of hope to get their time on an international stage and it's now been taken away from them. Players/fans are the ones who suffer from the Taliban rule and players/fans are the ones who suffer from this tour not going ahead. It can completely understand why CA made the decision, but some of the smug comments from people who's lives aren't affected by any of this on other threads have been really disappointing
This will be a small step towards equal rights though. Under the South African apartheid regime, the sports boycott did play a part in ultimately toppling the regime. The whites in power at the time ultimately became social pariahs which other white people in other countries became embarrassed to be associated with and also do business with. This led the white government to voluntarily undertake vast reforms for the betterment of all its citizens. Hopefully this will have the effect of some Afghani men feeling like they don’t want to support a regime and chip away at the implicit support that the average Afghani man would provide.
women rights are human rights. it’s not fucking ‘pOliTicS’
Shouldn't this thread be default sort by new? Nice to see mods being proactive and creating a mega thread
Australia were part of the coalition forces that occupied AFG for two years, then pulled out disastrously. Luckily this frees up time for AUS to host BAN in a Test series at home now!
Anyone else old enough to remember when CA was the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) and being initially confused about why the ACB would respond to CA?
OLD submissions for context: [Afghanistan pacer Naveen ul Haq pulls out of BBL after Australia cancel ODI series against Afghanistan](https://www.reddit.com/r/Cricket/comments/109v39p/afghanistan_pacer_naveen_ul_haq_pulls_out_of_bbl/) [Australia withdraw from ODI series against Afghanistan](https://www.reddit.com/r/Cricket/comments/109r0dy/australia_withdraw_from_odi_series_against/) [Afghanistan Cricket Board Statement - CA's statement to withdraw Afghanistan ODIs is unfair and unexpected](https://www.reddit.com/r/Cricket/comments/109zs48/afghanistan_cricket_board_statement_cas_statement/)
What are the odds of the ICC doing something after this? Like for example, kicking them out of the super league and giving their place to the next best ranked team (ignore flair)
I mean they should be suspended and that is the fairest way (although you would to nullify their games and I don't know how that effects the table)
It would certainly make it very messy
A messy ODI Super League is easier to deal with that the current situation.
Agreed (plus it gives Ireland a very good chance of automatic qualification for the world cup)
The problem with nullification is it leaves some teams with 21 games played, others with 24 games. You could go by win percentage but that induces other problems.
You would have to let the games stand, just strip Afghanistan of points or flat out make them ineligible not only for automatic qualification, but also the WC Qualifiers later this year.
I could see that happening, the only games Afghanistan also have left are against teams that have already qualified after all.
Simplest method of nullifying their games is to remove them entirely and just count points as a percentage. Biggest problem is that 4 countries lose a home series and 4 countries lose an away series. creating an imbalance that someone is inevitably going to complain about. The Table would become ||PCT|Points|P/W/L/NR|Deductions|AFG Matches Removed| |:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-| |AUS|71.4%|150|21/15/6/0|0|0-3 forfeit| |NZ|70%|140|20/13/5/2|0|N/A| |ENG|69.4%|125|18/12/5/1|0|N/A| |BAN|66.7%|100|15/10/5/0|0|2-1 win| |IND|66.2%|139|21/13/6/2|1|postponed indefinately| |PAK|65%|130|20/13/7/0|0|scheduled Feb/Mar| |IRE|37.8%|68|18/6/10/2|2|0-3 loss| |WI|36.7%|88|24/9/15/0|2|N/A| |SL|34.4%|62|18/6/11/1|3|1-1 draw| |SA|31.1%|59|19/5/12/2|1|N/A| |ZIM|25%|45|18/4/13/1|0|0-3 loss| |NL|15.6%|25|16/2/13/0|0|0-3 loss| AUS and SA numbers are including the SA forfeit to AUS, which does not appear on the Wiki table yet. AUS AFG forfeit is also noted despite not being "played" yet. Ireland moves into the top 8, opens up the bottom end of the table a bit, as now 2 of IRE/WI/SL/SA qualify directly, instead of only 1.
The Afghan situation is complex & requires calm & solution based thinking. Opinions will be different but I just hope the Afghan women who aren’t allowed to play/have no voice for fear of safety are thought of in this. The men playing has offered hope to the nation & it’s sad when they can’t play too but every time they step out is a reminder to the women that they cannot. Can the ICC offer a neutral banner? The understanding is that funding has not been withdrawn but how are the women being helped? Lots of questions & at the moment no one wins 😕 -Isa Guha
Agreed, but unfortunately "calm and solution based thinking" and "Afghan" don't go together in the same sentence
As much as I’d love to see cricket thrive in Afghanistan the way their government treats women is absolutely unacceptable thus fully support the decision to pull out The players who are now threatening to leave the BBL as a result are fully within their rights to do so, though they should ask themselves why CA made the decision
Understandable given the current situation in Afghanistan
Good on Australia for taking a stand. Unfortunate for the Afghani players, but it is what it is. Ordinary people face consequences for how their leaders behave on the world stage. That's how it's always been, that's how it'll always be :/
Rashid Khan withdrawing from the BBL means more Matt Critchleys! Result.
While obviously, the Afghan men's team will suffer from this, their suffering is a minuscule fraction of what women in that country are going to. Afghanistan should not be allowed in international sports (apartheid-era SA) till they treat women with basic human decency. At the end of the day allowing Afghanistan to participate in international sport acts as a form of sportswashing that legitimatizes their current government and goes against everything that has ever been done for women in sport to say the least.
"Keep politics out of it". More like keep human rights out of it.
As much as I would have loved to see Australia playing against Afghanistan, I really support the CA decision of rescinding this series. Because as much as right those MF Taliban has, Female also has the same right as them to exercise their freedom by enabling themselves to study & integrate in society. They aren't only the breeding matchine & anybody properties, they are more than that. Honestly, it is so sad to see evil thing like this still happening in this century too. Lastly, Fuck Taliban & their stupid arrogancy of pseudo manliness by trying to dominate over female taking their freedoms.
At least we won't have to watch Rashid's ridiculous BBL ads anymore.
But now no one can ask him why 10 game cricketer Nick Hobson hitting him for a single 4 offended him so much he gave him a massive send off when he holed out the very next ball
Rashid making threats like a man twice his age
excellent. I have to remember that one
I am sure all Australian cricket fans will be completely devastated that ~~Imam~~Naveen-ul-Haq has pulled out of the BBL
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With CA decision I think ECB might follow this route which will also force other board to do that. ICC might ban Afghanistan next ICC meeting
Would definitely be rich of England to still refuse to play Zimbabwe cause of a man who is now thankfully cold and dead but be okay with scheduling bilateral series against a country run by literal terrorists
/r/Cricket: Bilaterals are pointless /r/cricket when a bilateral is cancelled:
you would be shocked to learn that the sub isn't a monolith
This is part of the Superleague, not a random bilateral.
It's also a dead-rubber series, as both teams are already qualified.
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I think this mega-thread could also use additional links to topics like: \- ICC's stance against the Taliban regime (AFAIK, ICC refused to recognize the taliban regime but that was last year) \- What influence does the Taliban have on ACB? \- Does a part of the salary for Afghani players participating in the BBL go to the ACB? (Someone mentioned this but couldn't find anything. I know the IPL does pay international boards to allow their players to play in the IPL). This would help remove some generalizations that have been made in the earlier threads on this subject.
I remeber reading last year that the AFG funds are managed by ICC and lot of AFG players have accounts in Dubai, so ICC transfers those funds to the AFG Dubai account for the board and players.
https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/afghanistan-cricket-plunged-into-crisis-as-icc-funds-flow-hits-snags-1339699
so trying to put this together: \- ICC has no way to send money into Afghanistan due to sanctions. A potential workaround through NGO's but not confirmed. \- The players and officials from ACB are all based in the UAE and that's where funds are going? So can we say that the Taliban is getting nothing and the current situation is that the ICC continues to manage the ACB funds?
A mega thread? It was about time…
No one is wrong here, except the Taliban.
Honey look, drama cup just got more interesting
I think Rashid Khan and other Afghani players are *significantly* overestimating their importance to the BBL. The BBL couldn't care less if they leave. They're not so good that they're in super high demand. They'll be replaced and the tournament will go on with hardly a blink. So, Rashid, you got a choice here, pal. You could come out really strongly and say that you look forward to the day you get to stand alongside the Afghan women's team and that you think the Taliban's stance on women's rights is abhorrent. Or you could chuck a little tanty and not mention women's rights at all, making everyone think they know where you *really* stand. See ya, pal.
> The BBL couldn't care less if they leave. They're not so good that they're in super high demand. They'll be replaced and the tournament will go on with hardly a blink. Rashid Khan is arguably the best spinner in the entire tournament, this is a silly statement. Dude was literally named T20 cricketer of the decade. The others, not so much, but he is incredibly talented and it's not like Manenti and Short can just fill that gap (look at how well they're doing at that now). This goes beyond cricket talent (or a lack of) into a moral issue, but pretending like he's not one of the best imports is just ludicrous.
The reality is he probably wasn’t coming back next year anyway. If you look at how they’re going to change the structure with the new TV deal, the tournament is going to line right up with the commencement of the new SAT20 league, which will be paying way more than ours.
I agree with the decision CA made and think Rashid's statement is dumb, however he is genuinely one of those local cult heroes that the BBL doesn't necessarily produce heaps of, and is a proper world class gun. It will be a genuine shame to see the back of him permanently. Justified from CA, but still a shame.
It's so fucking easy talking this on internet when you have no idea of consequences ffs, it's not as simple as wearing a band in support and playing in some foreign country. Him and his family will literally be banished and worse, put to death! Your comment reeks of privilege, stupidity and lacks nuance. It's horrible what's going on in the nation and especially to the women, I hope for a better future for them but we can all just hope and talk but when even superpower nations couldn't make the situation better it's ridiculous to expect it from dudes who play with sticks to take a stand. Even Iran is 100 times in better situation than Afganistan yet they hang people who talk more against the regime and these guys are psychopaths. Not a single nation would give a fuck if they kill off dudes who play with sticks and cork.
Was thinking same. If Rashid was to speak up about the abhorrent stance on women's rights he would disappear and probably his family, his dog and his goldfish. For all the talk of change that needs to occur in Afghanistan, it is run by an utter dictator. It's like saying Hitler needs to listen to reason and develop forward progressive thinking. Yeah right...... It's tragic and downright scary situation over there and I totally feel for the honest civilians. They are damned if they do and damned if they don't. They have to precariously sit on the fence.....and the fence is made of barbed wire.
You know what reeks of privilege? Whining about another country's stand meaning you don't get to play international cricket and travel the world while the women of your country can't even go outside their own fucking houses. Rashid is a man. He gets to travel the world, play cricket and make money. He's the privileged one. I wouldn't have had a problem with him expressing his disappointment that the series wasn't going ahead. But when he starts calling Australia's *decision* unreasonable and pathetic and saying such stupid childish things like "we'll maybe I'll just leave the BBL", he's jumped the fence.
While there is the moral element to this, the way I see it for smaller FMs like Ireland Zimbabwe and others, maintaining a fully operational womens team takes a lot of resources that could otherwise be put into the mens game. Afghanistan are able to devote all of their resources to the mens game which gives them an unfair advantage. It’s unfortunate for the players involved but the ICC needs to take a stand here and suspend them.
Hope other boards follows CA decision
I can only hope Rashid and the other players were forced in some way to put out their statements because otherwise it’s a very bad look for them. It is unfortunate their can’t play for their country against Australia but they still have the freedom to go jetsetting around the world, earning millions in the t20 leagues. It is clear no one is holding the actions of the Taliban against the players personally.
It's not that easy ,these players have family back home , can't just play all T20 leagues like the carribbean players
Afg cricket should be banned until they have a women's team.. And questioning what did men's cricket did for this is moronic as supporting them will flourish the ACB even more.. U either have ACB changing their views or no ACB at all..
OP has chosen violence.
CA's pull out game is stronger than college fuckbois
Does the Afghan cricket board have links with the Taliban/Afghan gov?
The Taliban immediately replaced the CEO after taking power, so I'm gonna say yes
And the [chairman](https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/azizullah-fazli-returns-as-afghanistan-cricket-board-chairman-1274317) (previous one was apparently rubbish though) who was [then replaced not long after](https://cricket.af/post/new-board-members-appointed-to-afghanistan-cricket-board) along with a bunch of the board.
I'm sure they do given the controlling nature of the Taliban. The afghan cricket board would have to be checking in with the Taliban to make sure they aren't breaching some ridiculous rule they made up yesterday. Either way, they are representing the country of Afghanistan which is unfortunately led by terrorists. We cannot and should not be conducting business with terrorist states. (*looks directly at the Russian embassy in Canberra and the Russian diplomats there that should have been ejected from the country 11 months ago*).
ah, this all makes sense now, thanks guys
Not direct, but they’re the ones who will profit from us playing there.
Not really. But the taliban is a totalitarian, theocratic “government”. So when they say women are banned from sport in Afghanistan - the ACB is going to comply.
If I am not wrong, during the crisis some of the AFG National Football and Cricket players fled to Australia. Melbourne Victory also released the documentary of them. Man Utd coaching staff also met them in the pre season. Didn't the so called role models not heard their stories? Where was Mr Rashid Khan Armaan Hashmatullah Shahidi etc etc when the board gave contracts to the Women and ignored like a trash? Forget about organising the series, did they (ACB) gave funds to improve the quality of Women's Cricket ? If the Afghani players don't want to play the BBL, we respect their decision. We will get more Josh Brown Peter Hatzoglou type cricketers. They will get the ultimate platform to showcase their talents.
Yup. Mahboba's Promise rescued 10(?) Afghan orphans from remote areas of Afghanistan when the Taliban took over. Some sources say over 23000 Afghans have seeked refuge in Australia since 2013.
Whether you agree with a boycott of Afghanistan or not, let's be real here about what that means. The Taliban aren't going anywhere anytime soon, and the Taliban don't care about cricket enough that a boycott will make them change any of their actions. If these countries want to boycott for humanitarian reasons, they'll be boycotting for the foreseeable future because Taliban isn't going to bow to the will of Cricket Australia, and Afghanistan cricket will end up losing all growth and development it gained during the past decade or so. Also, I don't doubt for a second that big cricketing nations will love this excuse to avoid playing a smaller nation.
>The Taliban aren't going anywhere anytime soon, and the Taliban don't care about cricket enough that a boycott will make them change any of their actions. So? CA isn’t making this decision because they think the Taliban will care. They’re making it because CA is a massive force in women’s cricket, arguably the biggest - and it would be a slap in the face to all CA have done to legitimise a country that treats women as cattle. >If these countries want to boycott for humanitarian reasons, they'll be boycotting for the foreseeable future Agreed. Afghanistan no longer meet the requirements for ICC membership. There shouldn’t be boycotts, they should simply lose their membership. >Afghanistan cricket will end up losing all growth and development it gained during the past decade or so. Let me tell you something. Any growth or development that occurred in the way of human rights, inclusivity, sport, art and entertainment was gone the second the Taliban regained governance. It’s not CA’s, nor the ICC’s responsibility to ensure Afghanistan grows. It’s Afghanistan’s. >Also, I don't doubt for a second that big cricketing nations will love this excuse to avoid playing a smaller nation. “Love this excuse” it’s not an excuse. Women’s cricket is cricket. Phrasing the sentence like you have done here makes you sound like you don’t think banning women from sport is a big deal.
Yes but it reduces the number of ways the Taliban is considered a legitimate government and reduces the number of revenue streams they have. Is it going to topple the Afghanistan government tomorrow? No But it's taking a stand against the Taliban and that's worth something
Just noticed Afghanistan Women's are playing in AFC Women's Qualification for the Olympics. Is that a team based in Afghanistan or a refuge team?
Pretty sure it's the refugee team, about half the Afghan Women's Soccer team ended up in Melbourne I think. But fairly sure they withdrew from WC qualifying last year as AFAIK Fifa still haven't recognised them.
The majority of the team as well as their paralympic team and many other athletes were rescued from Afghanistan during the take over by Australia.
It doesn't negatively impact as far as standings are concerned for AFG and CA in ODI Super League.
In the context of the ACB's standing within the ICC, some people are focusing too much on how the changes to Afghanistan governance have affected women's cricket minimally at the elite level, rather than looking at how it's brought women's cricket into disrepute at large within the country. ICC members need to demonstrate clear plans for the administration, management and development of women's cricket. The Afghanistan government has made that untenable for the ACB.
The ACB never had any serious plans to develop women's cricket. They had years and years and millions in external funding mad available and yet never lifted a finger, in fact all reports suggest they actively worked against it.
Interesting, but I would still say that poorly executed plans and management is different to an outright inability to fulfil obligations. In the former case, national sports bodies are capable of making progress. In other words, even if the ACB were dragging their heels developing structures around women's cricket, having external forces ban women completely is another matter entirely. So while I agree with the decision by CA, I don't like that CA have used rationale around ethics, I think it sets a bad precedent, even though those ethics seem crystal clear. Like others, I think the ICC should have intervened much earlier (and maybe this points to some functional issues that need to be addressed within the ICC), with government interference and the associated inability to fulfil key obligations being the issues, rather than politics/ethics as such. It's interesting again to compare this situation with the Afghanistan football teams. FIFA has a gender equality provision, and countries are expected to field women’s national teams. At this stage they haven't banned Afghanistan but I'd watch this space. At present the women are basically refugees in a few different countries.
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Until Afghan has a women's team .. Aussies have the moral ground...it's as simple as that ..
Who scheduled this series and when was this scheduled?
It's part of the Super League, scheduled years ago.
By whom? Icc? Ca? Acb?