*302 Greig and Others v Insole and Others 1977 G. No. 22461977 J ...

[1978] 1 W.L.R. 302 Page 17
[1978] 1 W.L.R. 302 [1978] 3 All E.R. 449 (1978) 122 S.J. 162 [1978] 1 W.L.R. 302 [1978] 3 All E.R. 449 (1978)
122 S.J. 162
(Cite as: [1978] 1 W.L.R. 302)
by signing contracts with World Series Cricket.
One is Mr. Ian Redpath; another is Mr. Ian Chappell,
whom he described as one of the best cricketers
that Australia has ever produced. Mr. Edwards
considers that the increased level of payment
offered by World Series Cricket will have a two
fold effect on the interest in and development of
cricket in Australia. First, it will enable players like
Mr. Chappell to continue playing in the game and
to show their skills and cultivate interest in it,
secondly, it will provide a goal for younger players
to aim for at the end of their cricketing careers.
After signing on Mr. Lillee and a number of the
other Australian players, Mr. Packer saw Mr. Greig,
who is now the first plaintiff in the first action.
Against the background of his general evidence as
to the life of any professional cricketer in England,
Mr. Greig described in evidence his own frame of
mind as at March 1977, after the Centenary Test
Match had just been played between England and
Australia. He is 30 years of age. He did not want to
find himself playing cricket for too long and
planned finally to leave the game at the age of 35,
to leave time to establish himself in another employment
and maintain his standard of living,
which I infer is a fairly high one. Before his retirement,
however, he hoped to play Test cricket for
one or perhaps two more years and, as a swan song,
to play full time cricket for his county, Sussex, for
two years. He accepted under cross-examination
that, in view of the success of the team which he
had captained in the Test series just completed in
Australia, he had a good chance of being invited to
captain the England team in the next Test series. He
had pointed out in chief, however, that he had seen
a number of past captains replaced, including one in
the middle of a quite recent Test series, and that he
knew his captaincy could never be secure.
With these thoughts in mind, Mr. Greig went
to Mr. Packer's house on March 20, 1977, with a
view to offering himself as a television commentator
for his organisation for a few months beginning
in September 1977. On his arrival, however, Mr.
Packer more or less immediately indicated that he
had a different proposition to put to him. Before
putting it, he demanded and obtained from him an
undertaking that he would keep it secret. He then
outlined to him the world series project and told
him that the plaintiff company had already secured
the services of a number of Australians. Having left
this meeting Mr. Greig thought over the proposals
put to him and consulted his solicitors and accountants
about it. On March 25, 1977, he signed a threeyear
written contract with the plaintiff company, effectively
at a stated yearly remuneration of
$30,000, though I understand that some further benefits
to him were orally agreed. I shall *320
refer hereafter to the provisions of this contract,
from which it will be seen that World Series
Cricket would on the face of it have certain rights
to prevent him from playing cricket in England in
the English summer. However, the evidence of Mr.
Greig and Mr. Packer, which I accept on this point,
was, that despite the provisions of the written contract,
Mr. Packer had made it plain, when Mr. Greig
met him, that he had no intention of preventing him
or any other English county players from playing in
the English county cricket season. Mr. Greig therefore
signed under the clear impression that, in absence
of a ban, he would be able to continue playing
for Sussex, which he wishes to do.
Mr. Greig knew, when signing, that there was a
possibility that the defendants would try to impose
a complete ban preventing him from playing in first
class cricket. He decided, however, that he would
take this risk in the light of the potential benefits to
him and his family. He thought that he would be
well paid over the three year term of the contract
and that it would offer him not only security for this
period, but also an opportunity to play very high
class cricket in a country which he enjoys, with
some of the best players in the world, and before
large crowds which he also enjoys. He knew the
contract would render him unavailable to captain or
play for the MCC team which was due to tour
Pakistan in the winter 1977–78, but recognised that
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