Of Loyalities Professionalism and Patriotism

[Asif_k]

Last Evening - I was a having a discussion with Diablo Kazama in another thread about the Nambian Coach who happens to be English.

It appears that Mr. Brown had offered the English Team a few tips which he learnt Nambia-Pak match and thought those tips might be of some help to the English.

*Originally posted by Diablo Kazama: *
Speaking of traitors and/or patriots..

Dougie Brown, Namibia’s coach, (English by birth, and who still plays his cricket with Nass and the boys in England) is offering the Poms (cough) tips on how to possibly down Pakistan. Not only that, but he’s backing England in the tournament! (This disillusionment is pretty common for those hailing from Great Britian, what with them never having won a major cricketing tournament, let alone the World Cup.)

Now there are many things that possibly come out of this scenario:

1-Why does the coach of another country (in the same group!) need to give advice to England (the self-proclaimed “inventors of the game”)?
2- This other country happens to be the most inexperienced side in world cricket! heck, they’re only playing their first ever major tournament.

And more significantly:

3-Where do Dougie’s loyalties lie? Is he giving tips and flying the Union Jack while on contract with another country, rather than developing his own team’s morale and game?
4-He even said he’s even supporting England to go all the way! Once again, (and because it breaches professionalism) he’s under contract with the Namibian authorities.

Now I’d be pretty let down if:

a) as a player of a weak, inexperienced side; my coach would be backing the side of not only his birthplace, but a side we’re competing against for a spot in the next round.
b) as a board member who actually signed the geezer to undertake the job.

*Originally posted by Asif_k: *
Diablo Kazama - Long ago when India visited Pakistan Md. Azharuddin was not playing well for a while, Then Zaheer Abbas offered to help Azhar and invited him. Azhar went to see Mr. Abbas, who suggested a change in his grip, next thing you know was Azhar was back to form and became captain after that tour.

Now Would you say that, Zaheer was a Traitor ?? or he let down Pakistani team ??

*Originally posted by Diablo Kazama: *
Asif_K,

I don’t know how much you know about the game, but those inolved in the sport offer tips and advice to each other all the time. But as fellow players and on technical issues. This does not go up to the management level and into how to counter the opposing players.

Look at any and every team in the WC right now, and you’ll see almost all of them have foreign coaches. You won’t find a single coach giving any insight into his birthplace side about inside issues.

A bat grip or stance at the crease is a technicality in the game. Very different from discussing the opposition’s weaknesses.

It’s all about loyalties and professionalism and leading by example.

PS :- I have reproduced part of our discussion (With Diablo’s permission) to have a better conversation and know the views of other guppies.

[Asif_k]

Now, diablo thinks that Mr. Brown has let his team down and his loyalities are not with the Namibian team but with the English Team just because he offered some suggestions to the English.

Well, I dont think so -Looking at the Namibian Team's performance, I think Mr. Brown did his job pretty well and his Team is getting better in the tournament. They almost beat England Yesterday. He sure is loyal is Loyal and professional to his Team.

Now, Comes the suggestion part - Is he supposed to offer England his home country any suggestions ? I dont think there is anything wrong with that. Michael Kasprwitz went to seek help from Dennis Lilee in his trip to India. Lillee was in India as the Bowling coach of MRF pace foundation. I dont think Lillee is any less professional If he offered any tips to Kasprowitz on how to get Sachin.

[funguy]

Asif, Would you be OK with Indian coach John Wright giving a couple of hints to the Kiwis if the happen to face Zimbabwe in the latter stages of the cup?. After all, he is a Kiwi. Maybe a New Zealand victory mean India can be out of the top four after the super six stage.

[ehsan]

well I think it is how you look at it.

Zaheer giving adivce to Azhar and Lillee to Kasp was on an individual basis to improve their game. It had nothing to do with opponents or anything else. The guys acted professionally.

Looking at Brown's suggestion, why is he giving some tips to England? Is that professional. In my opinion not. What are his motives for it. Why is he sharing this information with England only. Why not give it to India, Holland and Zimbabwe as well who are yet to play Pakistan. He wont, that means he is not being professional or honest. Zaheer and Lillee would have given the same advice to any cricketer.

Lets take it another step forward. What would you say if Wright was to give tips to NZ about the Indian team or Pybus was to tip off England about Pakistan?

[Asif_k]

Yes, I am okay with it, If Indian team's is so weak that It will be beaten by NewZeland just because it's coach offered some suggestions to his home team (Kiwi) on how to get Andy flower out, then be it. And In that case I dont think Indian Team deserves to be there in Super Six.

As long as John Wright (that too as long as he is Indian Coach) is not telling the Kiwis how to get Ganguly, it's fine with me. That reminds me of Geoff Marsh the Current Coach of Zimbabwe was working as a consultant for Indian Board before his current assignment, Dont you think he would have passed on his information/Experience on Indian Team while he was on BCCI salary ? Does that make him less professional ??

[lunaticCalm]

Thats why i'm so much against hiring foreign coaches. Take Pybus for e.g, this is the third time that he has been appointed as coach. Well if he was that good a coach, why did u fire him in the first place. Its ironic why we have to look for foreign coaches, when ppl like Javed maindad are available. Inferiority complex???...I dont know.
There were rumors that when Javed was coach, he asked Akram to make the players take on oath on the Holy Quran, but some senior players (including our Maulana Saeed) complained and Wasim backed out. Even if these rumors are true, I dont see whats wrong with taking the oath unless u have something to hide.
Meanwhile I read in the paper that Pybus has had problems conversing with players due to the language barrier. Pakistan needs an Urdu speaking "Dada" coach who wont take sh** from any player. Someone who could tell Shoaib or any other player who shows attitude to jump up his a$$.

[ehsan]

Well, If Wright was to make a statement today that he has given the NZ team tips about the Indian team, he would be sacked on the spot, and quite rightly so. Does that say anything?

[smooth_guy]

Originally posted by lunaticCalm: *
Thats why i’m so much against hiring foreign coaches. Take Pybus for e.g, this is the third time that he has been appointed as coach. Well if he was that good a coach, why did u fire him in the first place. Its ironic why we have to look for foreign coaches, when ppl like Javed maindad are available. Inferiority complex???..I dont know.
There were rumors that when Javed was coach, he asked Akram to make the players take on oath on the Holy Quran, but some senior players (including our Maulana Saeed) complained and Wasim backed out. Even if these rumors are true, I dont see whats wrong with taking the oath unless u have something to hide.
Meanwhile I read in the paper that Pybus has had problems conversing with players due to the language barrier. Pakistan needs an Urdu speaking “Dada” coach who wont take sh* from any player. Someone who could tell Shoaib or any other player who shows attitude to jump up his a$$.

Excellent :k: I agree 100%

[funguy]

Coaches are really irrelevent. What we need is good captains.

[Asif_k]

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by ehsan: *
Well, If Wright was to make a statement today that he has given the NZ team tips about the Indian team, he would be sacked on the spot, and quite rightly so. Does that say anything?
[/QUOTE]

ehsan Bhai - You are comparing two different things here. John Wright is the Coach of Indian Team and as long as he stays Indian Coach, he can't go around telling people about ways to dismiss Tendulkar or Ganguly. Dougie brown is not the Coach of Pakistan Team, He is the coach of Namibia and just offered some suggestions to the Team he once played for. He didn't offer those suggestions to England on how to get Namibian batsmen out or how to beat Namibia.

The questions being asked are :-

1. Is he loyal to Namibian Team and his job ?
2. Is he doing justice to his profession as National Coach of Namibian Cricket Team ?
3. Is his patriotism coming between his profession and loyalty to Namibian team ?

[system]

Go outta town for a few days and you miss a scrumptious thread such as this! :D

Asif_k, nowhere did I imply that "Mr. Brown has let his team down and his loyalities are not with the Namibian team but with the English Team just because he offered some suggestions to the English."

I am not one to proclaim where Brown's loyalties lie exclusively, it's very human to support your birthplace in a competition even if you're now on another's think tank. Nonehtless, as a coach of a team you're supposed to iron out the discrepancies of your own unit and egg on those placed in your supervision until the very end.

Let's take a simplistic approah by neutralizing specific names (countries & players):

Team A- the team you once played for.
Team B- the team you are now in charge of, on professional contract.
Team C, D etc- other teams.

Now if teams A-D are grouped together in a pool, you, as the coach of Team B are required to support, work out and develop your team's players' games and approaches until the very end (i.e are knocked out of the competition, arrived home or contract terminates).

The authorities that signed you would not see it favorable at all if you start not only supporting Team A (a team you are competing against to progress to the next round), but giving it tips and backing it to go all the way. That too publicly! That would hardly be the kind of attitude players would derive inspiration from. This would reflect even more negatively if yours is a team playing in its first major tournament and still has games to go!

To make it even simpler, suppose England was playing Australia and the West Indies (for example) in a tournament, and you were still the Namibian coach but are not part of the tournament in any way. Now even though you're under contract with the Namibian board, supporting the Poms would be relatively acceptable as it doesn't affect the team you have been signed to supervise in any way.

Your job was to try to improve and inspire the team you've been signed to, and since that team is not playing in xyz tournament, you are not breaching professional conduct by supporting or helping any other. As opposed to the above scenario.