Dear Editor,
Please allow me to clarify a situation which is perceived as a threat to the East Coast Cricket Board of Control.
Since the resuscitation of the Enmore Community Centre Cricket Club in March of this year, the journey so far has been challenging. Through the dynamism of the executives of the club, not only has cricket returned to the Enmore Community Centre, but so also have table tennis, volleyball, dominoes and shuback. The centre is a hive of activity. Six months ago it was closed.
The club has a membership of over 100, eighty-three of whom are youths between 12 and 19. Eighty-three youths who previously did not have sense of honour and twenty-odd adults who had no physical recreation can now enjoy cricket and other sports.
Equally of great satisfaction is the huge spectator turn-out to matches. Young and old, male and female, join in lending purpose to our club’s efforts.
The Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sport must come in for special thanks. In recognition of the commitment of the club’s executives, money was made available to rehabilitate/rebuild certain infrastructure on the ground.
Any club which has an active membership of over 100 must create avenues for their involvement. So far, the Enmore Community Centre Cricket Club has exposed its membership to workshops on sports fitness, HIV Aids, mentoring, the laws of cricket, cricket scoring. Ex-West Indies star all-rounder Roger Harper was a recent personnel resource.
The Enmore diaspora and well-wishers have contributed significantly to the club’s fund-raising drives and statements of funds have been duly circulated. We have also received sport gear from donors. In essence, we operate above board and we are accountable.
However, cricket remains the thrust of the club and a competition embracing 8 clubs on the lower East Coast between Enmore and Perseverance, (which did not commence on Sunday, 29 September because of bad weather,) will bowl off this weekend. GT&T was responsive to our request for sponsorship.
This letter seeks to state that the Enmore Community Centre Cricket Club has no intention of rivalling any cricket board of an umbrella association. That is not our club’s mandate. However, in the absence of competitive cricket being played along the East Coast of Demerara and in the interest of the testing and readiness of our players for competitive cricket, the Enmore Community Centre Cricket Club organized a one-off competition. This was and still is the posture of our Club.
The executives and members of the Enmore Community Centre Cricket Club will continue to forge ahead in developing the club’s mandate which is, in brief, to develop the human and sporting potential of its membership. We will continue to confront challenges aimed at obstructing our efforts. With the continued support of the residents of Enmore and well-wishers, we will overcome.
Considering the foregoing, the Enmore Community Centre Cricket Club is still to be advised what it has done wrong, and any establishment which feels rivalled by our initiative is operating on perception rather than facts.
Yours faithfully,
Taajnauth Jadunauth
Chairman
Shameer Sahib
Vice-Chairman
