The IPL Auction is patriarchal and deeply humiliating for players who are paraded like cattle - Heath Mill

A total of almost 300 players went under the hammer during the IPL auction. While 169 cricketers found takers amongst the eight teams, the rest went unsold. The auction has been a huge hit amongst the audiences. However, the CEO of New Zealand Cricket Players Association has lashed out at the system.

While various unknown cricketing personalities have made it big in the auction, Heath Mills slated that it was quite unprofessional. He appealed them to change the way it was conducted on behalf of all the other cricketing associations.

I think the whole system is deeply humiliating for players who are paraded like cattle

Mills was enraged by the way players were being auctioned. He tweeted his frustration citing that it seemed patriarchal for the players. While he appreciated the fact that IPL had been great for cricket, he was disappointed by the way players were treated in the auction and termed it unprofessional.

“There’s a lot of good things about the IPL and it’s been great for cricket. But I’d like to see it mirror the rest of professional sport in the way they engage athletes. The auction system is wrong. It’s not professional, far from it. Apart from the public disappointment of players being passed in, those who are picked up are treated badly by modern standards.” he was quoted as saying by Herald.

The whole thing is poor and player associations around the world would like to see it change

Usually, it’s the players who lend their names to the auction. The team which bids the highest for a particular player attains them. Mills felt that this system where players have no idea about which team, player, and owners they’re going to have was weird.

“The players enter the auction not knowing where they’re are going, who their teammates are going be, who’s managing them, who the owners are. No other sports league in the world engages players on that basis.”

He further mentioned that there were instances of players having represented different clubs in different years. Thus it defied any long-term relationship between the players and the franchisees. He expected a change in the system.

“We’ve seen some players play for five or six teams over the 10 years the league has been going. Coaches cannot build an affinity with players, they can’t build a long-term culture. The whole thing is very poor and players associations around the world would like to see it change.”