Hansie a 'cynical manipulator'
2008-06-08 17:41
London - Former cricket captain Hansie Cronje was a cynical manipulator who misused his position as captain, often at the expense of his black and coloured team members.
This is according to a new BBC documentary about his life that was recently broadcast in Britain.
The hour-long programme was entitled The Captain and the Bookmaker.
Hansie was portrayed as a brilliant schoolboy, "a leader of men", as his former school principal and coach John Volsteedt put it, but he learnt quickly that it was possible to manipulate others for his own, corrupt aims.
Sports scientist Professor Tim Noakes said: "He was excellent at analysing people and that made him a good captain and a very good motivator.
"But it also made him a great manipulator because he could find your weakness and, by doing so, manipulate you"
Other people shown in the programme revealed that when he was captain, Hansie offered Henry Williams and Herschelle Gibbs $25 000 each to play badly in a game in India, but he swindled them by paying them only $15 000 each in the end.
Journalist Telford Vice remarked: "Everything for the white 'baas'."
Political commentator and cricket fan Richard Calland said: "It is the story of a white man who abuses his position, often at the expense of black players.
"He tainted the game in an area where it should've flourished."
However, others, such as his former coach, Bob Woolmer, were full of admiration.
Hansie's biggest mistake
The makers of the programme held an interview with Woolmer only a few days before his death on March 18 last year.
Woolmer described Hansie as "the best captain with whom I've worked up till now".
Corrupt professional gambler Marlon Aronstam said he had advised Hansie to remain silent and not to admit that he was involved in match-fixing.
"That was the biggest mistake that he made."
Aronstam said he still believed today that Indian recordings of conversations between Hansie and professional gamblers did not exist.
"The Indian police played poker with Hansie and he folded first."