New FICA president aims to ensure healthy environment for players

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Legendary Australian woman cricketer, Lisa Sthalekar, recently became the first woman president of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Association (FICA).

In an exclusive interview with Cricket Pakistan, Lisa opened up about her plans for the betterment of the game, importance of having players' association and how players from Pakistan can also take help from FICA.

While speaking about her plans as the new president of FICA, Lisa said that she wants to bring everyone on the same page and work on ensuring a healthy environment for players to succeed in.

“I don’t necessarily have any groundbreaking ideas but what I do have is personal relationships through which I will try to ensure that players will have a say in the future of our game,” she said.

 

 

 

Highlighting the importance of having a players’ association, Lisa said that no player will ever be in a position of disadvantage again.

“I have seen a great benefit of players’ association from the global point of view and I don’t think any player will face any disadvantage of having those programmes being put in place,” she explained.

On the subject of having a players’ association in Pakistan, Lisa highlighted the importance of the association in the first place.

“We know that everyone puts in a lot of time and effort into their cricket and they want to ensure they are successful. Unfortunately, only aa small population of people can go on and earn good money,” Lisa elaborated.

“What happens to those who don’t get to that stage or are taken aback due to injuries? The players’ association helps them transition whether that’s a role still within cricket or something completely different,” she added.

“These kinds of programs I would love to see in Pakistan,” Lisa further claimed.

Lisa further mentioned that non-FICA members can truly benefit from FICA’s efforts in recent times and even players from Pakistan can also contact them for any assistance.

“Of course! We are always here to help any player. The ICC prize money that the players get, it is coordinated by FICA. Non-FICA members benefit from what FICA has done so far,” she said. “There are definite benefits to players who belong to countries which don’t have any players’ association.”

She further added that a mutual effort will be required to ensure the game heads into the right direction.

“The players want the game to succeed just as much as the administration. It’s just that everyone probably has different ideas – some are right, some are wrong. But we will never know until we implement them."