Asks Orin Davidson
The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports has been making a big splash about the money it says it spent on sports in 2008.
Facilities are integral to the development of any nation in sports and the Ministry seems to have finally cottoned on to its importance.
Hence the building of the National Cricket Stadium and the funding of international standard lights, which Director of Sports, Neil Kumar and Minister responsible for Sports, Dr. Frank Anthony were proud to announce to the media at their recent briefing, among other developments.
Kudos to the Ministry for its insight especially the plan to refurbish the decrepit Non Pariel tennis facility, formerly known as the National Sports Development Centre and construction of the swimming center complete with an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
But 200 million dollars is a sum for which more could’ve been had, given the explanations by the Minister and his Director.
They said improvements were made to the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall and the National Gymnasium too, but from the media reports it was not stated whether the $200M was all that was spent or available for the year.
Prioritizing, though, seems a problem for the Ministry. For all of its nice plans in recent times, the alienation of athletics is nothing short of abominable
These days when a multi- million dollar cricket stadium is built, and an international standard sized swimming pool is in the works and constant rehabilitation work is being done to the Sports Hall and Gymnasium, not to mention Non Pariel Park, athletics remains starved of its most basic facility requirement.
In these modern times Guyana is probably the only country of note in Caricom without a single all-weather track. And we are not referring to a stadium type facility, not even one for training purposes is in existence.
At the very least the National Park track should’ve had a rubberized track laid there specifically for training by now. It does not cost a fortune nor require extensive foundation work, and more so, the National Park has been the one and only training venue for Georgetown and out of town athletes from time immemorial.
Thus the underdevelopment of athletics is immeasurable given the time such a basic requirement has been missing from the sport.
The Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) has to shoulder most of the blame for the sport’s decline but it does not help that the Ministry has dealt with the sport via a long spoon.
The AAG’s inept handling of athletics has not endeared it to anyone, nonetheless the Ministry, which has a policy of not funding any national body, seems disinclined to provide financial statements.
But it does not mean that the sport should be treated as though it doesn’t exist, without even basic needs.
The Ministry has a duty to serve the people and sports of this country and athletics should’ve been one of the least to be neglected.
Over the years it was always one of the major disciplines in the country.
The National Schools Championships were always one of the best organized and attended sports activities in the country.
Athletics was one of the first disciplines to have national representation at the Olympic Games.
The likes of Oliver Hunter , George De Peanna, Harry Powell, Juliet Masdammer and Myrna Fawcett, who were all good enough to compete at the world’s premier sports event from the 1950’s, scaling back to the era of James Wren Gilkes and June Marcia Griffith. Were it not for that unfortunate boycott of the 1976 Olympics, Guyana was sure to have its first gold medal through Gilkes.
At the Regional level, Guyana was well respected at the Junior Carifta Games.
Swimming was never in the picture.
In the days of the Guyana Games and the Joint Services and Guystac/Guymine meets, athletics was bigger than football.
These factors should’ve been taken into account by the Ministry even if it meant working along with the odious regime of the Blackmore administration, to keep the sport relevant.
No way should our athletes be reduced to beggar status to procure funding to compete overseas.
Especially when you hear about the Ministry funding coaches for the Guyana Cricket Board.
Now, cricket is the best taken care of sport body financially. It gets all the sponsorship, not to mention the Stanford bonanzas over the last two years.
Unfortunately the Ministry never exercised its leadership clout for athletics, because a more proactive one could’ve ended the Blackmore reign of terror on the sport a long time ago. Such interventions happen all the time in countries with Governments that care more. All it takes is imposing some influence on the clubs that vote.
Now that Claude Blackmore has thrown in the towel on the AAG presidency, the Ministry has no excuse not to kick start an athletics revival towards its former glory.
Anthony and Kumar can start by refurbishing the National Park with that badly needed rubber track.