Our Opinion
One of the most unexpected benefits of the building of the National Stadium at Providence has been the number of events that have been and are going to be held there.
The 2008 Kashif and Shanghai football tournament enjoyed unprecedented success with the staging of its final on New Year’s Day this year while several international and local Twenty20 and limited overs competitions have been held there.
Any fears that the Stadium would have been a white elephant following the conclusion of the 2007 Cricket World Cup competition have now been dispelled and recent news that two major international competitions will be held at the venue next year is heartenening. On Saturday an agreement was signed among the Central American and Caribbean Sports Organisation (CASC), the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) and the North American and Caribbean Rugby Association (NACRA) giving the Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) the green light to stage the 21st Central American and Games Rugby Sevens competition. That same day in Barbados the International Cricket Council (ICC) in conjunction with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) launched their ticket sales programme for next year’s Twenty20 World Cup competition where the National Stadium at Providence will again play an important role.
Providence, it was disclosed will not only stage the ICC Twenty20 opening ceremony but will also stage the first round matches.
The two events have certainly vindicated the government’s decision to erect the stadium which was done for the 2007 World Cup competition the first ever staged in the Caribbean thereby ensuring that this country would not be left in cricketing wilderness with a rapidly deteriorating Bourda as its showpiece venue.
Now perhaps the government can see why countries such as Trinidad and Tobago for example have several stadiums and why investing in sports facilities is the way to go Certainly with the economy unable to even satisfy the demand for airfare for the many national sports teams leaving these shores (except for cricket and possibly squash) it makes perfect sense to invest in facilities which could result in more and more sporting teams visiting here and more and more international competitions being held here thereby increasing foreign exchange revenues and boosting sports tourism.