He never became a national player, he told us, as back then the standard of the sportsmen and women was extremely high, much higher than today’s athletes, he claimed.
Back then he also pointed out, fans flocked to see Division One cricket and football games and even other minority sports such as cycling, rugby and basketball, had their fan following.
And even though he acknowledged that cycling and other sports disciplines still have their fan base, he argued that today’s following is much smaller than what entailed a number of years ago.
Football though, still happens to command one of the largest fan following in Guyana with the annual Kashif and Shanghai final pulling easily the largest crowd at any one sporting event.
Recent developments in football however, could tend to reduce that fan base if the authorities do not move quickly.
One is talking here about two incidents one at the National Gymnasium which involved a shooting and the other at the Tucville Playfield which involved a stabbing, incidents which could scare away football fans for good.
These two incidents have combined to give football “a black eye”, for want of a better phrase.
Football in Guyana had largely escaped the kinds of incidents of football hooliganism that clubs like Liverpool of England have been famous for, that is, until now.
Those two incidents have put football hooliganism firmly in perspective and one now waits to see what measures those in charge of football in Guyana will put in place.
Certainly the upcoming Kashif and Shanghai tournament should be the litmus test to see whether the new security measures, which should include the stipulation that not even licensed firearm holders should be permitted to enter a football venue with their weapons, bear fruit.
Cycling too had its fair share of controversy when the Guyana Cycling Federation/Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport/Ministry of Health staged its five-stage, Ride For Life, road race.
After the first day the organizers were unable to give to the media the official time/positions of the riders and there were allegations of unfair tactics.
At the end of the race which was won by young Geron Williams, (Kudos to him) it was reported that Minister of Sport Dr. Frank Anthony had instructed Nazim Hussain who was chairing the presentation ceremony to announce that cyclist Raymond Newton and his supporters be disbarred from riding at future Ride for Life events.
Newton’s “crime” was that he questioned how it was that another cyclist, whom he claimed he had beaten in all the stages in the veterans’ category, had been placed ahead of him.
Apparently the protest by Newton and his supporters did not find favour with the minister hence the decision.
While one is waiting to hear what the Guyana Cycling Federation (GCF) will say about that ban, nothing apparently will be done about the atrocious time-keeping that caused the problem in the first place or about the allegations of unfair practices by some of the cyclists.
How can the two government ministries be satisfied with the fact that this country is unable to accurately identify and correctly time stage winners of an event that they have sponsored to the tune of millions of dollars?
It is not only that the rest of the Caribbean is laughing at this sorry state of affairs, other riders in the region will be reluctant to come here for future events, notwithstanding the optimism of the minister who wants to make the event bigger and better.
Cricket too came in for its fair share of problems when an Inter County match in Essequibo saw the two standing umpires leaving the field after no drinking water was provided.
To add insult to injury the final day of another Inter-County match in Georgetown at no less a venue than the “august” Police Sports Club ground was abandoned simply because the Sports Secretariat of the GPF inadvertently rented out the ground for a sum reported to be in the vicinity of G$20,000.
That the abandonment of the match caused a young batsman to miss out on scoring his maiden senior Inter County century is certainly no big deal.
And then there is the issue of the mass resignations of the officials of the Guyana Amateur Boxing Association (GABA) a situation unheard of in any sports discipline in Guyana.
Surely something is afoot here. Why so many resignations?
What seems clear is that there are persons working behind the scene to destabalise the efforts of the executive which was democratically elected.
It led to the resignation of president Affeeze Khan who was elected earlier this year for a two-year term and now efforts are being made it seems, to sabotage the de facto president Eustace Cuffy.
It is the norm in Guyana for persons to put personal ambitions ahead of the national good and the message that is obviously being sent is…..“Elect us or there will be no amateur boxing association.”
Time to go Cuffy!
Finally, one hopes that Riddim Squad will make its debut at this year’s Kashif and Shanghai football tournament.
And further we say not.
My friend made the point that sports, and the administration of sports in Guyana is in chaos.
Is he right?
Your guess is as good as ours.
