The International Cricket Council will look into allegations of France Cricket organising fake matches after France24’s stunning report surfaced. The report from the french media alleged France Cricket wanted to show their commitment to women’s cricket in order to get funding from the ICC.
ICC announced that they are taking the allegations seriously and will open an investigation, though ACU’s (Anti-Corruption Unit) involvement in the matter has not been finalised.
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Former French women’s international and member of the board, Tracy Rodriguez, had been elected to the board in 2021 but left earlier this year, first uncovered the ‘fake matches’. She told France24 that she had doubts about the women’s games being played and decided to check. She went to the grounds where they were supposed to be held and found no cricketers.
“Two or three times I [went] there, people were having picnics and kids cycling around at the time of the game. Then the day after I would see the results of the games online,” Rodriguez told France 24.
France24 followed up and upon a similar inspection, found the same – no match being played – even on subsequent days.
According to their report, France Cricket had been receiving funds from the ICC for the development of women’s and junior cricket.
“According to a 2021 ICC presentation on the state of cricket in France, the ICC provides 60-70% of France Cricket’s total budget, roughly $320,000 out of a total of $520,000 for the year 2022. Almost half of these ICC funds are meant to support women’s and juniors’ cricket.”
The report also found that men’s cricket teams need to have a women’s division to be eligible to compete and that contributed to the ‘fake matches’.
“Most clubs cheat, they pretend to have a women’s team,” Worstead told France24. “They pay for licences and then they fake score sheets online … We have refused to fake matches and that means that even if we qualify we’re likely to never be able to get a promotion,” James Worstead, coach of a fourth division men’s team, told France24.
ICC, according to the report, did receive multiple complaints from people involved in cricket in France, including former France Cricket CEO Marjorie Guillaume.
France Cricket said they will respond to the allegations by France24.
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