The ICC released a statement reading: “The executive board confirmed their decision made in October 2010 that the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 in Australia and New Zealand and the ICC Cricket World Cup in England in 2019 will be a 10-team event.” The 2019 edition in England will also include 10 teams, but there will be a qualifying process.

Okay, we certainly don’t want a World Cup that takes a quarter of a year to run, but this is simply unjustifiable. It is obvious that logistical, player welfare and TV rights play a large role because you can only have one game a day - after all it does take about seven hours for a close game to end.

But is that reason enough to take the “world” out of “world cup”, as England spinner Graeme Swann so eloquently put it? And he should know, for it was his team that was humbled by the fairytale team at this World Cup. Ireland thumped England. Kevin ‘O Brien scored the fastest century. And now Ireland know they will not play in another World Cup for at least eight years. So, despite showing up with an outrageously professional outfit, despite convincing their country to take the sport seriously, despite pulling off the single biggest upset in World Cup history, they have been given the middle finger. It’s like the index finger saying “out”, but it’s a bit more painful because the middle finger says: “Go. And you have NO review”.

Cricket Ireland set up a Facebook campaign against the decision, which the body’s chief executive Warren Deutrom called “frankly outrageous”. And it is.

In soccer – the true global game, the game that does not just talk the talk about delusions of global reach – the Netherlands are a formidable team. In the 1970s they reached to World Cup finals. Some people call them the best team never to have won the tournament. In 2006 they did not make World Cup qualification. They stayed at home while the best teams enjoyed Germany. My Dutch friends were devastated. But there was never a sense of entitlement. They knew that next time the team would have to qualify. That they did, and despite being second best to Spain they dumped Brazil from the 2010 World Cup and made the final. That’s what World Cups are about. Fantasy, disappoinment, journey and dreams.

At least the ICC have said there will be a qualifying process for the 2019 edition. This restores a tiny semblence of the word “world” would have been put back into “world cup” and it gives teams such as Ireland a chance.

Botswana have never been to a World Cup. They are on a fairytale run leading up to the African Nations Cup and they have no reason to believe that it is not possible for them to represent their country at the biggest single sports even in the world, the Soccer World Cup. That’s because Fifa gives them a chance. Fifa gives them a license to dream. That is the magic of soccer. That is the magic of a global game.

As for Ireland – your dreams have been dashed. You may get more joy from ESPN’s World Rock Paper Scissors Championship.

brownd@bdfm.co.za