Dear Editor,
How will NCN explain the latest travesty it has bestowed on Guyanese sports fans, specifically cricket fans? Once again this Government owned entity has failed to honor its obligation to the people with its non-television coverage of the West Indies Twenty20 cricket championship that saw a young Guyana team upstage its star studded opponents to win the title in brilliant manner. But alas, the long suffering Guyanese fan base was unable to see the exploits of teenager Jonathan Foo and Devindra Bishoo, take the competition by storm by spearheading two breathtaking thrillers in the semi finals and final. Their exploits , which qualify them to play for a US$11 million dollars first prize in the AirTel world series in South Africa in September, were seen throughout the globe through the ESPN network, except Guyana.
Instead NCN chose to preoccupy itself with coverage of World Cup football without planning for major cricket competitions involving Guyanese. When Shiv Chanderpaul was amassing his 22nd Test century in the series against South Africa, locals had to put up with TV coverage of Messi, Ronaldo and Fabiano instead.
And don’t insult our intelligence NCN by pointing out there was radio coverage for the T20 finals in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. Nowhere in the world these days is radio the preferred choice for sports coverage. Compared to TV, radio is like chalk to cheese. In these modern times, people only use radio for sports when driving. And even many Guyanese drivers have TVs in their vehicles.
Yours faithfully,
Jack Palmer