Latest update April 23rd, 2024 12:59 AM
Jan 05, 2010 Sports
Guyana await an international hero
There must become a time when sport enthusiasts draw the line with Associations and the Government, so that they will understand that they are serious about ending the decade of decadence that has permeated and poisoned local sport.
We have celebrated the successes of every other country in international sport this decade except our own, not that we have not had any, but because we had none that captivated an ever-competitive world to overwhelm 83,000 square miles. Guyana longs for its big moment in international sport and it behoves every association at the national level and Government to think of strategies that will help improve foundation for success. It is only fair to ask of these public officials.
We have watched the Olympic Games from Sydney to Athens to Beijing in this decade as Guyanese athletes toil for mere first round exits with the occasional semi-final places, but nothing substantial to turn the world’s eyes on Guyana.
Preceding Olympic qualifying events such as the World Championships, Commonwealth Games, Pan American Games and Central American and Caribbean Games have failed to significantly impact this country of so much potential. The decadence in local sport was more explicit when our one ‘Knight in Shining Armour’ in the earlier years, the national senior cricket team, plummeted to unprecedented failure on the converse success of neighbour, Trinidad and Tobago.
Cricket provided Guyana’s best regionally respected national team amid the failure of the other disciplines to gain international recognition. With the sport in its metamorphosis, an enterprising new local hero is definitely needed.
The Golden Jaguars emerged in the Digicel Cup in 2006 and created quite a stir, but it did not endure as Guyana slid down the Caribbean Football Union and FIFA rakings with the country failing in its World Cup attempt.
Locally, Kashif and Shanghai has proven that football has the ability to fire up Guyana but that is not enough. The satisfaction must not be the size of local crowds, but rather the international impact of the event and the ricocheted effects.
Rugby Football may be on its way toward giving Guyana its next heroic team. The Board has already retained its Caribbean Championship that put them through to the IRB World Sevens Series in Las Vegas in February this year. A win for the national male and female rugby outfits will ensure that they move on to the Pan American Games and Commonwealth Games. In brief, the teams are on the verge of qualifying for the London Olympic Games in 2012.
Nevertheless, Guyana continues to have flickers with individual performances regionally, and is yet to have a flame with team performances internationally. It does not augur well for sport associations and the Ministry of Sport.
Rawle Greene, Michael Saul, Alisha Fortune, Alika Morgan and Cleveland Forde have at their best kept the Athletics Association of Guyana from seeming irrelevance here, while in the region, Morgan and Forde have dominated. Their international counterparts, Aliann Pompey, Marian Burnett and Adam Harris, all in the United States, have held their own with little success though enthusiasts have crossed their fingers in anticipation of something great several times.
Pele FC striker, Gregory Richardson played in the US Major League Soccer with some of the other local players gaining exposure in England and Trinidad and Tobago as the focus on individual development continues to outdo national efforts.
Narsingh Deonarine scored over 1,000 runs in a regional First Class Season while Sylvan Gardner continued to dominate the Body Building scene. Our Powerlifters, ‘Big’ John Edwards, Mervin ‘Spongy’ Moses and company have been impressive on the regional front as well. Shivnarine Chanderpaul won an ICC’s Cricketer of the Year award for his prolific batting.
I have highlighted these few individual performances to emphasise the fact that there was reason to applaud personalities in the last decade for their varied efforts, but holistically it was not much being done on the national front for teams.
National associations and Government must begin reconstructing the path toward success on an international platform. Strategic and informed emphasis must be placed on some of the key areas like facilities to aid in national sport development. Expedience with the national sports policy is necessary and a collaborative effort between Government and associations is critical. The two authorities must respect each other with the requisite boundaries for levels of involvement.
When the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport hold its press conference at the end of the year, the media must not be given vague explanations for how millions of tax dollars was spent. There must be concrete and verifiable explanations.
The future of sport in Guyana is in the hands of the national associations and Government as both entities play crucial roles in ending the decade of mediocrity. They must do so for the country, athletes and thousands of sport enthusiasts.
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