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Ganguly and Pathan in ambush-marketing controversy

The International Cricket Council has sent a letter to the Board of Control for Cricket in India, bringing to their attention an infringement of the ambush-marketing clause in the player contracts for the ICC Champions Trophy

Wisden Cricinfo staff
13-Sep-2004


The ICC could make Pathan sweat over ambush marketing © Getty Images
The International Cricket Council has sent a letter to the Board of Control for Cricket in India, bringing to their attention an infringement of the ambush-marketing clause in the player contracts for the Champions Trophy. According to the ICC, Sourav Ganguly and Irfan Pathan - who appear in a marketing campaign for Tata Indicom, a telecom-services provider who are direct competitors of Hutch, one of the official sponsors - are the players who have flouted the guidelines.
Gautam Dasgupta, the Indian team manager, confirmed that he had received a letter from the BCCI in this regard. "I have conveyed the Board's message to the players," Dasgupta said. "The players have told the Board that they will inform their sponsors to withdraw the advertisements during the period stipulated in the contract they signed for this tournament."
A report in the Indian Express quoted Jon Long, an ICC spokesman, as saying: "We have sent a letter to the BCCI regarding the infringement." The relevant clause, a bone of contention before the last World Cup, prevents any player from endorsing a product which is in direct competition to the official sponsors for the entire duration of the event.
The BCCI confirmed that it had received the ICC's letter, and SK Nair, the board secretary, was quoted in the report as saying: "We have communicated the ICC stand to the team management in England and are now waiting for a clarification from the players."
According to the newspaper, Tata Indicom admitted that Pathan had contacted them and asked for any hoarding featuring him to be pulled down. Pathan confirmed as much, but refused any further comment. Speaking on his behalf, Lokesh Sharma, his manager, said, "We always go by the rules and had clearly asked Tata Indicom to end the campaign during the event. In fact, we even received a confirmation from the sponsors."
Ganguly's manager, Sanjay Lal, refused to be drawn into the controversy. "I was in touch with Sourav till Friday, but we didn't discuss this matter," he said. "Anyways, we only manage the player and not Tata Indicom. The whole campaign strategy is formulated by them [Tata] and their ad agency."
The ICC has taken the ambush-marketing clause extremely seriously, with even picnic hampers subjected to scrutiny before games just in case the wrong brand of cola or crisps make it inside the stadium.