New Warwickshire Chairman Mark McCafferty

A post on Mark McCafferty, who has taken over as Warwickshire chairman from Norman Gascoigne.

McCafferty came onto the Warwickshire board in 2016 and may have been recruited with an eye to becoming chairman at some stage.  He was an appointed, rather than elected, director and has now, again, been appointed; as chairman.

I'm not a big fan of the appointment culture, I think Churchill had it about right when he said,

"Democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…"

But it should be recognised that democracy in county cricket, or at least Warwickshire County cricket, was always  more theoretical than a practical reality.  The men who guided the county's development, JV Ryder and Leslie Deakins, were, in theory, secretaries to a decision making committee but in reality acted like modern day chief executives and were intolerant of "interfering".

Although the membership might not have had any say in Mark McCafferty's appointment the decision wasn't made in total isolation.  The minutes to the November Warwickshire Members' Committee disclose " The interview panel was being observed by  an ECB Board Director, as a key stakeholder."

It is inappropriate for the ECB to be involved in the process of choosing a chairman for a first class county.  I believe one of the problems in English cricket is that the balance of power which, for a long time, overly favoured the counties has shifted too far towards the ECB.  The result is an ECB, which hasn't done enough in its purported role of driving up standards in England sides,but tries to control other areas of the game , all the time spending more and more money  The county chairs, as voting members of the ECB, are well placed to reign in some of the excesses, but how can this happen if the ECB is vetting the appointments of county chairs?

But it can't be denied that Mark McCafferty has an impressive CV. Long term non  - executive director of FTSE quoted Redde PLC (admittedly Redde's share price is a long way down this year, but these things can happen) and from 2005 - 2019 he was chief executive of Premiership Rugby.  (Warwickshire chief executive Neil Snowball also has a rugby past).  

Mark McCafferty's Premiership Rugby connection reminded me of the evidence given by Andy Nash, former chairman of Somerset County Cricket Club, to the House of Commons Select Committee enquiry into the future of cricket.

At paragraph 153 Nash says, "It is worth noting that there is a document now circulating that relates to the formation of a professional game board within cricket—Chair, you referred to that earlier, in that one already exists for both soccer and rugby union. I think that was always going to be an inevitable consequence of disenfranchising the 18 first-class counties and the MCC from the ECB main board. It is the only NGB in sport to have done so and that could only ever result in a pushback, because the 18 counties and the MCC own all the grounds and employ all the players. In the case of the FA, they at least own Wembley, and the RFU own Twickenham. That is not the case in cricket."

And, by paragraph 162 he's started to open up and play a few shots, " There is no doubt that, at the moment, there is a major power struggle going on between the counties and the ECB over how the doubling of the media deal—it has come in at £1.1 billion compared with £425 million for five years—is going to flow through the game. The counties are not going to rebel from the ECB—they are going to do what has happened in football and in rugby union and set up their own umbrella group within the auspices of the ECB—but I am pretty clear that you will see a transition of power away from the ECB centre back towards the counties. It is going to be redressed along the lines I think you were alluding to in football."

In recent years Warwickshire have been very supportive of the ECB.  So much so that exiting chairman, Norman Gascoigne, was also on the ECB's board for The Hundred, an inappropriate conflict of interest with his Warwickshire role.  

If the counties are now looking to set up a professional game board for cricket then McCafferty is well placed to assist in its creation.  In announcing his appointment the Warwickshire website confirms, "McCafferty (I think that's Mr McCafferty to you, WCC website person) also devised long-term agreements with the Rugby Football Union, on behalf of the Premiership clubs, which consolidated the Club and Country partnership in England and established the Professional Game Board."  

Could Mark McCafferty's appointment as Warwickshire chairman signal a more muscular approach from a county that has, until now, toed the ECB line.  Was it this prospect that had the unnamed ECB director hotfooting it to Edgbaston to observe the interview process?

I suppose we'll just have to wait and see. Cricket has a different history to rugby and it might be that Warwickshire continue to support the ECB, after all being allocated international matches remains crucial to the club's future.

And although a professional game board might help address the harmful imbalance in the relationship between the ECB and the counties it is no panacea.  Ultimately the need is for administrators who have the interests of cricket at heart.

I'd just like to end this post by noting that Mr McCafferty will be giving up a slice of his time to be the unpaid chair of Warwickshire County Cricket Club, a contrast with the ECB where the chairman will earn £150,000 a year.  I wish Mark success and hope he enjoys the experience of being chair of WCCC.