The West Indies Player’s Association
The West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA) is the official player representative body for cricketers in the West Indies, and is an affiliate of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Association (FICA). As the exclusive bargaining agent of players selected for national and West Indies teams, WIPA is the authorized and collective voice of all West Indian cricketers, past and present.
WIPA was established in 1973, and incorporated in 2003 under the Companies Act of Trinidad and Tobago 1995. The association was established during a visit to the United Kingdom by the then West Indies cricket team. Sir Garfield Sobers, Lance Gibbs, Rohan Kanhai (captain), and Deryck Murray comprised the earliest committee members, with the latter two serving as the initial president and secretary, respectively. Since then, there have been a number of players who served as WIPA Presidents; Rohan Kanhai, Courtney Walsh, Dinanath Ramnarine and Wavell Hinds, the incumbent.
WIPA’s raison d’etre has been to serve as the West Indian players’ representative body. WIPA was established in an era when territories were still under British rule, and cricket, like other institutions, was managed and controlled by the plantocracy and the ruling “white” class. The then cricket board administration saw the emergence of this unionized body of cricketers as an attempt to whittle down the monopoly it exercised over players. As such, there were veiled threats to players contemplating joining the body. In fact, players were indirectly told that joining the body would mean jeopardizing their position as players, that is, the possible consequence of being ‘dropped’ from the team. Nevertheless, players recognized the need for a body that would serve players interests and well-being and soldiered on.
Former West Indies player and former WICB president, Rev. Wesley Hall, set relations between players and the WICB on an industrial relations platform, and the association has sought to ensure that this continues to be enshrined in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
