Cricket Australia destroyed cricket for me today. It's used me and abused me as it tries to seduce women to become spectators, but I will not be a commodity.
Instead, it has put a value on its players and decided that men are worth more than women. It's not – just – the pay gap between men and women who work for Cricket Australia. Women all over Australia are well-used to the pay gap.
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Pregnancy clause sparks cricket backlash
Anger erupts over the National Cricket League asking female cricketers to declare they are not pregnant before signing a contract.
It's far worse than that. It's the care gap, a complete illustration of the disregard in which cricket's ruling body holds women players. And women.
A pay submission leaked to Peter Lalor of The Australian highlights the difference between the way men and women cricket players are treated. Yes, it's money. And, yes, it's conditions. The Australian Cricketers Association, the players union, has gone to Cricket Australia with a list of claims which it says show naked discrimination.
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And there is one horrifying inconsistency which reveals the callous disregard the peak body has for women players.
When men under contract to Cricket Australia are playing a game, there is always a doctor on standby. Always.
But women who play in the National Cricket League don't have that luxury. Actually, it's not a luxury. It's a workplace health and safety issue and I only hope that some sports medicine genius will explain to the board of Cricket Australia just how dangerous this is. The presence of doctors at women's games is not guaranteed.
Cricket is not the riskiest of sporting activities (that's reserved for quadbiking). The most common injuries in the game are fractures to the wrist and hands but considering these are the tools of the trade, you'd hypothesise best care should always be provided. There are 254 injuries per 100,000 participants, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare figures from 2014 – and if you are a man who is one of those injured, you will get instant, attentive health care. And what do the women get?
They get to wait.
What of the other issues? Cricket Australia has divided women in its employ. Those women who work in non-playing roles get maternity leave. Women players don't get anything. Instead, they are forced to vouch that they aren't pregnant when they sign up for the white line. And worse, while men get multi-year contracts, the women get one – only one – year.
Physical conditions matter in our workplaces but Cricket Australia has also imposed conditions on behaviour. Women must always be nicer than men. It's not surprising to me when men police women's behaviour in ordinary life. Be nice. Be polite. Be courteous. Be sporting. It shocks me to discover that that degree of surveillance is actually written into the contract for women cricket players. But not for men. They can be as appalling as they like and they might get the odd fine.
For women, sledging could be grounds for dismissal. Now there's an idea. Maybe we could write that into the contract for the male players.
Cricket Australia is desperate to keep my eyeballs. They've had them for decades particularly over the holiday season. To be honest, I'd thought Cricket Australia was ahead of the game. It paid women players more than other codes – in fact it doubled the pay for women. It's invested in the Women's Big Bash League which nailed it last weekend with record ratings. But it's got women players on individual contracts which allow for these inconsistencies. That needs to stop. One agreement for all.
Cricket Australia describes itself as the custodian of cricket. That's a lie. A custodian has responsibility for protecting, for care.
There is no care here. Even though women cricket players are hot property, even though women spectators have rewarded Cricket Australia's attempts to drag us in as an audience, as spectators, it still treats women players as if they are worth less.
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