It’s over two weeks since Guyana’s victorious and heroic men and women’s rugby teams returned from Mexico where they both retained their North American & Caribbean Rugby Association (NACRA) Sevens Title but the Government of Guyana, more so the Ministry of Sport, has not yet even offered congratulations.
For the men’s team it is their fourth consecutive title, and they will represent the region at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India alongside Canada. They will also represent Guyana at the IRB World Sevens Series in Las Vegas next year.
The women’s national team too crowned themselves in glory by retaining the title which they had won the previous year.
On Monday evening at Cara Lodge, the Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) hosted a sponsors’ appreciation night where they recognised and honoured the companies and individuals who helped them on their path to victory even as they created history.
Chairperson of the event, Kit Nascimento, who is also the President of the West Indies Rugby Union (WIRU) stressed that while they are celebrating an enormous achievement, the biggest hurdle still lies ahead and that is getting to the Commonwealth Games and IRB World Series in Las Vegas.
Nascimento said that while they are thankful for the support shown to the team by corporate Guyana, much is left to be desired as it relates to governmental support.
Government M.I.A.
The Minister of Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony as well as the Director of Sport Neil Kumar are yet to even say ‘congratulations to the Guyana rugby team’ although they have both made several public appearances.
A similar situation occurred when the Guyana National Football team, more popularly known as the ‘Golden Jaguars,’ returned home after winning the Suriname Independence Cup.
It was the first time that Guyana had won an international tournament and the team played unbeaten against the host, French Guiana and the Netherlands Antilles.
The Private Sector Commission through its chairman Captain Gerry Gouveia, who has been very supportive of sports teams, recently slammed the government for not doing its part in developing sports. It was announced that next year will be one of the busiest years for rugby with Guyana playing host to the CASCO Games at the Guyana National Stadium.
“This is the time when we would need you guys more,” Nascimento said, referring to the sponsors and media at the reception while disclosing that they would need US$10,000 just to attend a warm-up tournament in Uruguay next year.
“If we want to be competitive at the World Series, we must play at least one major tournament to see how we stand against these big teams. It’s the only way we can be competitive, so we have a target of US$10,000 to meet to take the team there,” Nascimento added.
Sponsors
Sitting at the back of the room, a representative of Wartsilla, the energy company from Finland that has teamed up with the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) stood up and said, “Well we would put US$2000 to the US$10, 000.” He got a round of applause.
Earlier in the night, the company (a silver sponsor of the team) said that even though they did contribute to the team’s trip to Mexico, they felt that they could have given a bit more and pledged continued support to the team.
The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) who has also supported the West Indies Rugby team, announced that they too, will be working closely with the team and lauded the GRFU for showing respect to the sponsors, a move which the company says is rarely done in some other sports disciplines.
Edward Beharry and Company also pledged continued support to the team and they too said how appreciative they were about being honoured and wished the team continued success.
