Anglo Saxon Attitudes

Ed Smith in today's Observer Sport Magazine on the Pietersen/Moores affair -

"Some administrators in English sport do not understand, still less approve of, concepts such as accountability and appropriate chains of command that they are encouraged to parrot to the media. Many would much rather carry on in the hazy half-light of establishment fog. Of course, if there were ever too much genuine accountability then things would get really dangerous: those uttering the cliches would themselves have to become accountable...."


"Amid all the noise, one question was underexplored: whether Pietersen was right, and Moores should have been moved on. To many pundits, this seemed entirely not the point. Pietersen was breaking protocol. He was exceeding his authority. He was allowing disputes to enter the public realm. He had got too big for his boots. This coup would, surely, be the ultimate expression of player power...."


"But was he right? The ECB said Pietersen was wrong to challenge Moores. So Pietersen went - that much follows. They then immediately sacked Moores. Why?"


"And so Pietersen clashed with the two differing models of English power. He offended the new school, the executives who had spent months putting together the new flow chart of power within English cricket. And he offended the old school, the more genteel establishment. They felt that you just don't behave like that, that it's not the done thing...."

Excellent, and thought provoking stuff. Read the whole thing here.