The Fyre Festival of cricket: Warner among 16 Australians left in lurch as Caymans league collapses
Warner and the other players have been left fuming by the turn of events, which started with individual players refusing to play in games before entire teams began to take strike action.
'It's very disappointing, what's happened,' Warner told this masthead from Miami, where numerous players are in transit home from the failed league.
Angry and disillusioned players in the Cayman Islands have compared the event to the infamous Fyre Festival in 2017, which left 'luxury festival' goers stranded in the Bahamas.
After attempts over several days for players to have their contracts paid, the Australian and global players' associations are now exploring legal action against tournament organisers BMP Sports, which calls itself a 'professional franchise cricket agency' and is based in the UAE.
'It's good that the players took a stance over there because this has happened too much in cricket,' Australian Cricketers' Association chief executive Paul Marsh told this masthead. 'This is a signal that these are the types of actions players will take if they're not paid.
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'There have been letters exchanged about the lack of payment and putting organisers on notice, and the players have been communicating consistently with us, and it's got to where it is now off the back of trying every avenue to get the players' contracts honoured, and it's got to a point where it hasn't been resolved, so the players were not going to keep turning up and playing.
'A lot of the contracts will say they need to pay 50 per cent before the tournament starts ... but that's a signal that if you're not getting paid before you get on a plane the players won't play. It's not good for the sport when an event ends up in this position, so there needs to be stronger regulation around these types of things, and the sanctioning process. We will obviously explore legal options as well.'
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