The
Sports Psychology Blog
This Sports Psychology blog follows the comments from the England and Wales cricket board chairman Giles Clarke regarding players discipline.
Cricket: England - Who Makes The Rules?
I don't see why they shouldn't be banned. I think people understand that with privilege and money comes responsibility. The words of the new chairman, directly speaking to Paul Collingwood and Andrew Flintoff.
Whilst the sentiments of what the chairman are saying are valid, the question of player discipline should not be a matter of his concern. The rules of behaviour must be set in the dressing room. By the players. And agreed to by the head coach.
So, presumably, the players had a rule that said it is ok to go to a lap-dancing bar on the eve of a big match. They would have agreed to it. And it would be signed off by Peter Moores. There the matter should end. If there was no rule, then there should be. Must be. Rules that make everything crystal clear. Rules that are the bedrock of peak performance. Yes - going to a lap-dancing bar relaxes us before a big game. Or no - going to a lap-dancing bar, or any bar before a big game is a distraction. It's not acceptable. Either way, it should be clear.
During the last Ashes series, it was said that the England players spent Christmas and New Years Eve separately. It would seem that if the players had learnt from the Ashes drubbing, then when players go out to lap-dancing bars, they should at least go as one. As a team. As a team-building exercise. That should be the rule. In it together. Then there is no scapegoat.
Look how the Dentist's Chair episode brought Terry Venables England team together before Euro '96. Giles Clarke is right to point out how ill discipline impacts on performance. But it may serve to undermine the authority of Peter Moores.
When England next travel away, Peter Moores should make it his priority to create a collective unity, whereby not a single newspaper article is written about the indiscretions of any individual. In it together. Or not at all.
