Vandals dealt a severe blow to the Clico Preysal Cricket Club, home to Guyanese Azeemul Haniff on Thursday night, digging large craters at both ends of the pitch at Inshan Ali Park.
An eye witness reported that a group of young men, who would usually play “small goal” football on the park, arrived late on Thursday afternoon and found their goal posts missing.
They immediately accused the Preysal cricketers of removing it and promised:”If we can’t play football, they can’t play cricket.”
The club’s executive has been making efforts for the past two years, without success, to have the regional authorities designate the Inshan Ali Park as a cricket field, and the other village ground, a football field. Club Chairman Tony Harford, said the club has always had problems with the footballers, who do not contribute financially to the upkeep of the park, which Clico Preysal spends about US$16,000 annually to maintain. However, he insisted that the club did not interfere with the footballers equipment.
“Sometimes we have to move their posts to facilitate cutting the ground, but at most it is placed on the side of the field.”
He said approaches were made to government to consider giving custody of fields to the leading clubs, both football and cricket, with maintenance being the clubs’ responsibility. His pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
