London, June 26: The International Cricket Council today came down heavily on the players' representative body, FICA, asking it to desist from making "clumsy attempts to threaten or undermine" the game. Responding to FICA’s threat that it would make negotiations on players' contracts for future ICC tournaments more difficult, ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said instead of making such threats "FICA’s” leadership should be taking a step back and trying to understand why so many of the boards around the world are so vehemently opposed to it". Angry over ICC’s refusal to add a player representative on its management committee, the Federation of International Cricketers Association (FICA), which had initially opposed the controversial players' contracts for the 2002 Champions Trophy and 2003 World Cup, had said it would not cooperate with the ICC on similar contracts in future. "Another battle is looming", FICA chief executive Tim May was quoted as saying in 'the Australian' newspaper.
May said the ICC’s refusal to have a players' respresentative on the powerful management committee showed "a complete lack of respect for players around the world".

However, Speed today ridiculed the threat and asked FICA to set its own house in order.

"Clumsy attempts to threaten or undermine all countries instead of working with countries which are currently opposed to it will only succeed in alienating all countries and set its cause back even further", Speed said.

Bureau Report