– Minister Ramson, DoS Ninvalle silent on issue
After initially revealing that the Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) is receiving assistance from the Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Sport for the RAN 15s return encounter with Trinidad and Tobago, it has now been discovered that the support, while promised, is uncertain as the days continue to countdown to June 22nd.
President of the GRFU, Ryan Dey, who is presently out of the country, said that the government had assured him of support and that he was led to believe that renovations would be starting shortly on the dressing rooms at the rugby field in the National Park, Thomas Lands.
However, Dey told this publication that thus far, an engineer at the behest of the Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Sport visited the dressing rooms at the National Park to assess the condition of the facilities to see what remedial work was necessary, but since then, nothing else has been done.
Attempts to acquire a comment from Director of Sports (DoS) Steve Ninvalle and Minister of Culture, Youth, and Sport Charles Ramson Jr. on the situation proved futile as messages and calls to their respective cellular phones went unanswered up to press time.
Saturday, June 22nd, is slated for the return leg between Guyana’s national rugby team, the ‘Green Machine’, and Trinidad and Tobago in the RAN 15s Championship.
While there is no home for rugby in Guyana, over the years, the rugby field in the National Park has played host to fixtures, albeit with little to no seating for spectators, sub-par dressing rooms for teams, and unacceptable washroom facilities for fans and players alike, with a notable absence of a lighting apparatus.
While Guyana recorded a remarkable come-from-behind 24-23 win over Trinidad and Tobago at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain on April 28, the return fixture, which can confirm Guyana’s progression in the championship, remains shrouded in uncertainty. The reason for this ambiguity is the fact that officials from RAN will visit Guyana at least a week prior to June 22 to inspect the ground and facilities, and if it is found that these amenities are lacking and not to the requisite international standard, Guyana could inadvertently forfeit the match.
Kit Nascimento, the patron and mentor of the GRFU, was quoted in another publication expressing his disappointment in the “reluctance” of the government to come to the aid of the GRFU.
To this end, Dey told Stabroek Sports, “Well, my take is that the NSC never let us down before, and I can see why Kit is upset since this matter is indeed one of urgency and they shouldn’t be dragging their feet when we sent a detailed letter stating the importance of having the game at the National Park.”. While Guyana’s victory in Trinidad was their first game back in five years on the international scene in the 15s format, Dey pointed out that the feat was all the more important since there was very little support from the government in helping the team.
“It is also important to point out that the team went to Trinidad and won with little input from the Ministry and came out victorious. We are in a rebuilding phase, and the proof is in the pudding; we haven’t played 15s rugby in five years and still got a win against a team that had played two previous warm-up games and won both”, he explained.
“We really need the support now more than ever to keep this momentum going. We’ve been asking for floodlights since 2020, and to date we are still waiting,” Dey stressed.
