Paine’s captaincy for the Australian cricket team ended with a familiar scene – a flood of tears and a written apology. Paine, whose text message to a work colleague has now come to light from 2017, regretfully announced his resignation as Test captain.
While Paine’s actions immediately sparked a storm across the nation, there are probably more details that are coming to light. Hence there is little to be gained from speculating further what happened.
What we do know is that Cricket Australia was conducting an internal investigation in mid-2018 when they first became aware of the incident. The investigation found that Paine had not violated CA’s code of conduct and was free to resume the captaincy role he had taken on just months earlier after the infamous sandpaper scandal.
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Presumably the national authority hoped this would be the last anyone heard of the text messages. The investigations took place behind closed doors and ended favorably for their captain, so that they could be neatly filed in the constantly growing filing cabinet with the label “Scandals – no end of career”.
But these things have a way of getting out to the public – it would be naive to assume that the messages would never show up. And so the contradicting statement by CA chairman Richard Freudenstein is quite astonishing when you consider how much time CA had to prepare for this day.
Freudenstein noted that the board of directors accepted Paine’s resignation before acknowledging that he was acquitted of any code of conduct violation during the 2018 investigation.
Then he stated, “CA does not condone this type of language or behavior. Despite the mistake he made, Tim has been an exceptional leader since his appointment and the board thanks him for his excellent service. “
This throws the whole situation into confusing terrain. If CA does not condone this behavior, why is it acceptable under its Code of Conduct? If the incident is serious enough that Paine is stepping down, why wasn’t it determined that he was violating the Code? Are the actions serious enough that they are inappropriate to a captain but acceptable to any other player?
It’s an over-cautious approach from an organization that typically adheres to much higher standards. In a way, that’s to be expected – CA’s leadership has changed significantly since the investigation. But it is precisely this fact that offers the opportunity to show the work that has been done since that time. This was the moment to raise your hand and say, “We got it wrong. Since then we have developed further as an organization and are working to ensure that this situation never occurs again. “
A statement in this direction could come, but it would be too late. The initial impact has been felt, the public has made their judgments and there is potential for a significant impact. For example, how safe will women feel now when they apply for a job in cricket if they know that it is not against the Code of Conduct?
