The International Cricket Council has said it will not get involved in the decision by Cricket South Africa to strip David Teeger of his captaincy of their under-19 side, after the move was described by the South African Jewish Board of Deputies as a “disgrace” for which “the only explanation is plain antisemitism”.
CSA met the Board of Deputies, an umbrella organisation of the South African Jewish community, on Tuesday morning in an attempt to defuse the row over Teeger’s demotion, which was announced last week and apparently was provoked by security concerns in the leadup to the Under-19 World Cup, which starts in the country on Friday.
The position of Teeger, who is Jewish, has come under scrutiny since he accepted an award at a Jewish community event on 22 October and dedicated it “to the state of Israel and every single soldier fighting so that we can live and thrive in the diaspora”. In November the CSA launched an independent inquiry, provoked by an official complaint filed by the Palestine Solidarity Alliance, to determine whether Teeger had breached any codes of conduct. It concluded that “the right to freedom of expression requires [others] to respect his right to express his opinion” and that he was “not guilty of any contravention”.
Teeger was asked to step down voluntarily before eventually being removed from the captaincy on Friday, with CSA saying he was likely to be the focus of protests and that it “must respect the expert advice of those responsible for the safety of participants and spectators”. But several South African newspapers have reported that the decision was the result of political pressure rather than genuine security concerns. On Monday the ANC, South Africa’s governing party, released a statement congratulating Juan James on his appointment as the team’s new captain, and describing Teeger as an “Israeli genocide supporter”.
After attending the meeting with CSA the SAJBD’s national vice-president, Zev Krengel, described the security concerns as “totally bogus and an excuse to strip him of his captaincy”. Krengel said: “They started the meeting by saying it was a report from the State Security Agency. When we challenged them on who wrote it they stepped down from saying it was a report to saying it was a briefing. When asked who gave the briefing they refused to tell us. They admit there’s no security report. So there’s only two options, antisemitism at CSA or massive political interference from the ANC.
“The last point I tried to make [at the meeting] is, can we agree that this is a sad day for Cricket South Africa, that the only way they felt they could run the tournament is to strip a Jew of his captaincy? None of them could agree. I feel it’s a sad day for CSA, a sad day for South Africa, and if the ICC does nothing about it it will be a black mark on the ICC’s name.”
But the ICC said it will not intervene in the matter. “Team selection including captaincy is an issue for members and not the ICC,” a spokesperson said. “An international federation is not constituted to intervene in team selections.”
