CRICKET CONTRACT

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 69, 18 September 1930, Page 10

CRICKET CONTRACT

"CURIOUS DOCUMENT"

FOR AUSTRALIANS' TOUR

MANY CLAUSES

(By "Not Out.")

The agreement which the Auk<v« v ,j<u, cricketers are called upon to sign before setting out on the tour to England has been described as "one of the most curious documents in the history o£ sport." It has thirty-six clauses, which occupy eleven pages of type-script. There are legal phrases in plenty—" "jointly and severally covenant" and so on, with " hereinafter " and "afore* saids." The parties to the agreement are: Mr. Eobert Aubrey Oxlade, of Sydney, New South Wales, -hairman of the Australian Board of Control; Mn W..L. Kelly, of Melbourne, manager of the team; Mr. Thomas Howard, of Sydney, treasurer; Mr. \V. M. WoodfuU (captain), and each of the other members of the team. They covenant "for themselves and each of them jointly and severally and each ono with tha other," whereby it is agreed as follows:—

The departure "on such ship or ships as the chairman or manager shall appoint" and the punctual attendanca of the players on the appointed |;. u ...us are dealt with in the early clauses, which also provide that the players are "to stay and reside in such places as the manager shall from time to time appoint or select." It is also laid down that if any one of them breaks the covenant he forfeits all claims to payment "and the Executive Committee shall in any such case provida such player with a first-class passag* to Australia." BAN ON RELATIVES. Among other clauses in the contract are the following:— "Each member of the team coven.ants that te will not be accompanied on the tors by his wife or any member of his family or any relative or con* nection. ■ ■ " ■ "Neither his wife nor any of his children under his legal control will be in England or elsewhere outside of Australia where the team may be touring." _ - A point of interest in regard to this clause is that, according to a recent cabled announcement, Mrs. Woodfull and son are proceeding from Australia to Colombo, there to moet the captain of the team (W. M. Woodfull) and return to Australia with him. Sine* the agreement specifies that the play* ers are to return to Australia as a 1 team, tho agreement will still be in force o* the final stages of the journey. It is hardly likely, however, that the cap« tain will be charged with committing a breach of the agreement because of the acceptance by his wife of a generous offer by a shipping company of » return trip to Colombo in order to enable hor to join her husband on the final stages of the voyage from London, THE BBADMAN CASE. With regard to the reports that Bradman is likely to be placed "on tht mat" when the team returns to Australia there appears to be little in th« agreement on which to charge him with having broken the terms of tho contract. The reports, naturally! have created a stir in, Australian cricket circles. "The Referee" has ths following to say on the subject: "W« have the utmost faith in Don Bradi maa and in the manager, Mr. W. la. Kelly. It is possible that they have interpreted certain clauses in the agreement differently. If bo, it willbe very easily smoothed out, we believe, without any loss of dignity or prestige by anyone. It is peculiar that into the cables many have read a desire on the part of someone in Eng» land to create a breach through which Bradman might bo induced to turn his attention to following up the game in England, after a period of qualification. But here again we do not think ther« is ground for such an assumption." One clause which seems to have a bearing on the Bradman case, but which does not appear to have been broken to any extent, is the following:— "Neither the manager, treasurer^ nor any player shall accept employment as a newspaper correspondent, or do any work for orjn connection with any newspaper or any broadcasting, and no member of the team, other than th# manager, shall communicate with tie Press or give any information concerning matters connected with the tour to the Press or any member, servant^ or agent thereof." POWER TO FINE PLAYERS. Other clauses in the contract are:— "The executive committee Bhall have the power to impose such fines on any player failing to conform to the conditions hereof, or failing to obey the directions of the executive committee or the manager, or misconducting himself in any manner contrary to tha well-being of the team." "The treasurer shall pay all the ex-, penses of the tour, including hotel, travelling, gratuities, and reasonable laundry expenses, but pot the cost of wine „or other alcoholic liquors or tobacco." "No monetary allowance shall be charged against. the tour expenses by any member of the team for (a) subscriptions to ships' sports, or (b) liquid refreshments on land or sea." "No member shall absent himself from any function which has been duly designated an ' official function' without th<> sanction of the executive committee." '' Tne board shall provide each player with a blazer, cap, sweater, aiH tic." RATES OF PAY. It is also provided that, subject, to the terms of the agreement:— "(a) The manager shall be entitled to receive £650, payable as follows: £50 prior to embarkation for outfit purposes, and £450 during th« tour (but not more than £90 per calendar month), and £150 upon return to Anstralia. "(b) The treasurer and each player shall be entitled to receive £600, paid in the manner following: £50 prior to embarkation for outfit purposes, £400 during the tour (but not more than £S0 per calendar month), and 415150 on return to Australia, provided that the last-mentioned payment to player* shall be dependent upon a satisfactory report, being made by the manager. If the report is not satisfactory, the board may determine that such sum of £150 be forfeited to the board wroily or iti part

"To cover expenses of players for tramway-car and taxi-cab fares to and from hotels and to and from grounds at which matches aro played, and also incidental expenses of playors on land and sea. an allowance shall be made to each player of £1 10s per week, payable, fortnightly.

"All members of the team shall return to Australia as a team directly the official tour is over in such ship or ships as the manager may appoint.

"Each of the players undertakes that he. will not return to £i:"t '.V within two .years from the completion of the official tour for the purposes of playing cricltct."