You know what bothers me? The rift between the Georgetown Amateur Basket-ball Association (GABA) and the majority of clubs that make up its constituency. And it’s all because of president Chris Bowman. Now this individual was elected several years ago but rather than push basketball in the city forward, he has done his best at politicking, latching unto the apron strings of Director of Sport, Neil Kumar, and neglecting what is his foremost responsibility – the development of basketball in Georgetown.
The relationship with the Director of Sport has its own spin-offs like being given the responsibility for basketball at the Inter-Guiana Games rather than the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federa-tion (GABF) and that is where Bowman’s attention is. The GABF has its own issues and I take those issues up in this medium ever so often, but that does not mean they should be blatantly overlooked for responsibilities that fall under their purview, especially in favour of a President and body that cannot retain the full support of its affiliated clubs.
The gripes of the city clubs are now becoming increasingly louder and despite Bowman’s insistence that he would not allow the GABA to be ‘hijacked’ as he puts it, I really don’t see how he can prevent it. Certainly not by adopting a new constitution that has not been ratified by the affiliated clubs. One club head called the document a ‘two page thing’ that he had never seen. In Guyana we tend to ‘give people a long rope’ for whatever reasons, especially the heads of sporting associations that have failed to deliver.
The clubs that I have been talking to, and they number no less than five, are still formulating how to get rid of this non-performing president who has not held a second or third division tournament for this year. Instead, he has hosted a junior competition called the Yohance Douglas Memorial Competition hoping that that would serve as a third division tournament and that seems to be it for the year. The GABA constitution provides for the ouster of failed leadership by way of no confidence votes, but these clubs either do not keep a copy of this important document or haven’t the ability to understand what it provides for. I’ve heard that a meeting of clubs has been scheduled for Monday afternoon to plan the way forward.
But even outside of that I say, what is wrong with getting together and just saying ‘we will not play under the leadership of Bowman.’ These associations are nothing, read my lips, nothing, without the clubs and if the clubs are dissatisfied with the leadership and that leadership seems bent on holding on to office by any means necessary then the thing to do is just refuse to play under them. Attend no meetings, do not register players with them, form a breakaway body if you have to and seek the recognition of the GABF, but by all means take a stand.
As a basketball lover it pains me to see the state of the sport in Guyana and how everybody talks about the problems, but nobody is doing anything. I have seen people like Bobby Cadogan, Dennis Clarke, Merle Jordan, Mark Trim and Lugard Mohan give their all to this sport but never openly challenge for leadership of either the GABA or the GABF.
They accept an assistant secretary treasurer position here and an organizing secretary there and hope that all will be well eventually. They seem to enjoy the view from the ‘cheap seats’, while acknowledging that there is a problem, but not being firm or militant enough to be part of the solution. Well, that is just not how life and politics work.
You need to get off the fence, stop trying to not offend anyone, and just do what is best for the sport. Any collection of the aforementioned individuals would be great for city basketball. They have played the game, they know what the problems are, they have done decently well at the helm of their respective clubs, they give back by way of clinics and training programmes for youth and have the support of the players. I say it is time for Chris Bowman to just pack up and leave! I will remain on this issue until the will of the clubs is respected and adhered to. Get the point? The Perfect Point?
