Crisis deepens as 1st div women’s clubs seek league delay

Club cricket crisis in Bangladesh further deepened yesterday after nine women’s first division clubs sent a letter to the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), asking for the Dhaka First Division Women’s Cricket League to be postponed to next year.

The undated letter addressed to BCB’s women’s wing chairperson Rubaba Dowla stated that due to the current economic situation in the country, the clubs are in a bad state financially and thus requested the board to postpone the 2025-26 league and arrange it next year.

Begum Anowara Sporting Club’s general secretary Moniruzzaman, who, according to many officials of the nine clubs, is “handling” the matter, said that the clubs are willing to play only if there is no relegation or promotion this year, saying a relegation could result in a loss of Tk 20-30 lakh.

“We are facing an economic crisis as many of our sponsors are not in the country due to the current political landscape,” he said, adding that it is difficult for them to get sponsors as officials of first division women’s clubs don’t get BCB councillorship.

However, an official from another club, despite being a signatory on the letter, said they wanted to play as their financial demands were met.

This year, the BCB has increased the remuneration for participating clubs from Tk 2.5 lakh to Tk 4 lakh. Renumeration for food and transportation per game is set at Tk 7000 and Tk 10,000 respectively while for jerseys, the BCB would provide Tk 50,000 to each team.

The players transfer window for the league was set to close on March 28 and the league was supposed to start on April 2.

Players were left frustrated at the timing of the clubs’ request to postpone the league.

“All the dates were given and suddenly the clubs are claiming financial constraints. I have checked and the BCB has significantly raised the financial donation this time,” a first division cricketer, who resides outside Dhaka, told The Daily Star.

“Already there is a dearth of domestic leagues for women and it’s difficult to run a family under these circumstances. We trained the whole year only to hear they don’t want to play this year,” she added.

Another player, who had signed a Tk 2 lakh contract for this season with a club, said officials have told her that if the club competes this year, they will treat it more “like a picnic”.

“They [club management] told us that they will give us Tk 5-10 thousand each. They won’t be able to give the contracted amounts,” she said.

One cricketer alleged that clubs are saying one thing to the media and a completely different thing to the players as her club had told her that it was the board who wanted the clubs to play without relegation.

Some have alleged that as some clubs have failed to form a team in time, they have manufactured this crisis.

Officials of the women’s wing said they are searching for a solution as they want the league to take place. The Daily Star tried to reach women’s wings vice-president Abdur Razzak for a comment but he did not respond.

Meanwhile, hundreds of cricketers are planning to stage a protest at the BCB premises on Monday.

National team player Rumana Ahmed, who is suffering from the uncertainty over the Women’s Dhaka Premier League, identified with the plight of the first division cricketers.

“The players are very disappointed with what is happening. Almost all the players depend on the earnings from this league… I hope BCB will do something,” she told The Daily Star.