Dear Editor,
We wish to respond to a letter published in SN written by Mr Charles Selman and titled ‘What is the situation with the East Coast Cricket Board?’ He asked if the East Coast Board is really a functioning entity, and if the East Coast Board had not been struck off strength from the Demerara Board. He also claimed that the East Coast Cricket Board (ECCB) is informing the public that it is also known as the East Coast Demerara Cricket Association (ECDCA).
The name ‘East Coast Demerara Cricket Association (ECDCA)’ is directly related only to the ECCB and has been used in the past at the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) level as a matter of convenience. All the members of the DCB are referred to as ‘Associations’ and so the ECCB at the DCB level was referred to as the Association which is in charge of cricket on the East Coast of Demerara.
While we used the name ECDCA, the constitution of the DCB clearly states that since the formation of the DCB in 1991 to the present the ECCB is a constituent member. The names ECCB and ECDCA have been used at the DCB interchangeably under the DCB president Mr Bissoondyal Singh who has been the President of the East Coast Cricket Board from 2009 till now. These facts are well documented.
The real issue is that there are reports that some members of the purported Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) allegedly have been trying tirelessly on the East Coast to dismantle the ECCB for the purpose of the upcoming DCB elections. We will now highlight the series of events.
- There was the formation an East Coast Cricket Committee (ECCC) to usurp the functions of the ECCB/ECDCA. After the membership of the ECCB resisted, a series closed doors meeting were convened on the East Coast unknown to the ECCB/ECDCA and our membership was informed that the ECCB has been struck off of the DCB constitution and the new body will be the ECCC. We immediately convened two Ordinary General Meetings of our membership and presented them with the facts, including the DCB constitution and the Cricket Administration Act 2014.
- Another attempt again was made to dismantle the ECCB by approaching the High Court for an ex-parte injunction to stop us from performing the functions of the ECCB. The ex-parte application was unsuccessful and made inter-parte.
- A series of attacks was launched against our president via letters in the newspapers in an attempt to destabilize and demoralize him and he responded via a libel action in the High Court.
- They became aware that we were in the process of preparing a dossier to present to the Governance Committee of International Cricket Council (ICC) regarding unapproved cricket and the illegal formation of the ECCC since it will affect the players. I raised this illegality at the Town Hall meeting with WICB President Dave Cameron who was almost speechless.
- Realizing the serious consequences, the ECCC suddenly presented itself in the press as the ECDCA with our membership being requested to get ready to restart some competition. We immediately again via a press release made it clear that the ECCB and ECDCA are one and the same and are unrelated to the ECCC or the East Demerara Cricket Board (EDCB).
We do hope that Mr Selman finds our explanation clear, and that the next time someone tells him that the ECCB has been struck off the DCB, he asks when, where, how and who were the executives of the DCB when the ECCB was struck off the DCB.
Yours faithfully,
Raymond Barton
First Vice- President and
Chairman of the Competitions
Committee
