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| | Friday, 14 June, 2002, 15:37 GMT 16:37 UK Cricket's community policemen Smalley was in the London police for 30 years
The English security professional hired by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to help stamp out corruption believes cricket can never be totally clean. Bob Smalley, one of five security managers hired by the ICC to help safeguard the world game from corruption, said corruption in one form or another will dog cricket forever.
"We all realise that cricket will never be completely rid of corruption," Smalley told BBC Sport Online at an induction conference held by the ICC's Anti Corruption Unit (ACU). "In any walk of life, corruption will exist and cricket is no different from that. "Our aim is to get corruption down to an irreducible minimum." The five security managers were appointed on the recommendation of ACU chief Lord Condon. Smalley is a former Metropolitan Police officer and original member of the ACU. Never before has international cricket operated with a full-time, professional security infrastructure - and it is Condon's hope that the game will eventually be clean. "The aim is to rid cricket from corruption once and for all, but in a fashion that does not inhibit the enjoyment of players and those who follow the game," Condon said. Focus on education Each Security Manager has been assigned two Test-playing nations and will attend all matches played there. Smalley, allocated England and West Indies, will, like his colleagues, focus on the education of players and umpires in the attempt to eradicate corruption.
"I consider the education of players from a young age right the way through to international level is essential," he said. "We will be putting in some measures in and around the players that we hope will counter corruption issues. "In the first instance we hope to target such teams as the under-19s, academies and of course the senior teams as well. "We just want to make players aware of corruption issues and what we are going to do about it." To that end, Smalley expects players will play a large part in the intelligence-gathering process by reporting approaches made to them. Furthermore, by developing a rapport with teams Smalley hopes security managers will be made aware of players receiving gifts or excessive attention from outsiders. "One of our aims is to get our face known so that players will get used to us and I think the teams will be comfortable with us being there in the end." Smalley baulked at the suggestion international cricket now has a police force, preferring to describe his role as discreet and supervisory.
"I think to call us the cricket police is a bit strong," Smalley said of the team, four of whom have served in police forces in various parts of the world. "This job involves talking to people, gaining information and helping to make sure that cricket remains enjoyable for the players and the public. "I have dealt with international teams over the past 18 months and they seem to accept my presence and I do try to be as unobtrusive as possible." N.S. Virk, assigned to India and Sri Lanka, believes the the battle against corruption is an ongoing process. "Corruption still exists but right now is at a low ebb and it must be said that the slate is now clean for us to expose anyone involved in match-fixing," Virk said. "It will be a gradual thing for us to make our mark but it will be effective in providing a deterrent in the long run. "It won't be easy initially because we can't be in lots of places at once but we will always be keeping our eyes open. "Parents don't always know what their children are doing, but they always care." | | See also:  11 Jun 02 | Cricket 05 Jun 02 | Cricket 04 Apr 02 | Cricket 15 Feb 02 | Corruption in Cricket 14 Jun 02 | Cricket Internet links: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top Cricket stories now: Links to more Cricket stories are at the foot of the page. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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