The Guyana Hockey Board 2011 season has been adversely affected due to the unavailability of grounds, an official of the board disclosed yesterday.
GHB secretary Gregory Sills said that the board had written to the administration of several regular hockey playing venues, Everest Cricket Club, Georgetown Cricket Club, Demerara Cricket Club and Police but so far the responses were not favourable.
The current situation has affected the playing off of the Farfan and Mendes men’s first division league, the John Fernandes men’s second division and a women’s tournament.
With the local cricket season due to get cracking soon and the planned West Indies versus Pakistan international matches coming up, hockey players could find themselves sitting out until the end of the international cricket matches as a few of the grounds have been identified as practice venues for the teams.
Sills said that a plot of land was identified near to the National Stadium at Providence to construct a hockey centre but that project is still to get off the ground.
President of the board Philip Fernandes did confirm that a piece of land to the north of the stadium was identified and talk had started with officials of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport.
The board has since written to the Minister of Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony, for a letter of intent which could pave the way for the board to source local and overseas assistance including the International Hockey Federation (FIH) to have the centre built.
The venue problem was further compounded by recent work done to the playing surface at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall which has left the surface with an uneven bounce, an impending danger to players.
The situation forced the cancellation of the annual Diamond Mineral Water International Indoor Hockey Festival at the end of last year.
Meanwhile, the board plans to send a women’s team to the Pan American Challenge Cup billed for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from July 30 to August 7.
Twenty players are currently in training at two venues, the National Gymnasium on Mandela Avenue and GCC ground.
Sills said the women’s participation in the tournament was made possible through a grant from Olympic Solidarity.
The top two teams will advance to Pan American Cup, a preliminary competition for the women’s Hockey World Cup in two years time.
Sills said that Guyana stands a good chance of advancing to the Pan American Cup as some of the regional power houses Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, and Jamaica will not be attending but the local side will not be taking their opponents lightly.
The squad is being prepared by Philip Fernandes (head coach) with assistant coaches being Rawle Davson, Devin Hooper and Damon Woodroffe.
