Dr. Hinds is wrong! Racism has not invaded cricket- Sanasie

Jul 13, 2018 News

Political Analyst/ Columnist, Dr. David Hinds

The Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) has taken umbrage to the views reflected by Dr. David Hinds in his most recent column published in the Kaieteur News.
More specifically, the GCB thinks it was irresponsible of Dr. Hinds to present information he gathered about the selection of cricketers as “facts.”
Yesterday, Board Member, Anand Sanasie, said that most of what Dr. Hinds said can be proven as “false”
Sunday, Dr. Hinds said that the cricket administration in Guyana has been “completely racialized in favour of one ethnic group – Indian Guyanese.
What does this mean? It essentially means that the monies that go to the respective governing groups are controlled by members of one ethnic group. It also means that this group controls all decision making in relation to national cricket, including how and where the money is spent and who gets selected to represent Guyana.”
Speaking on behalf of the GCB, Sanasie said that racialism has not invaded the selection process of national cricketers neither has it invaded the

Guyana cricket Board Official, Anand Sanasie

selection process for officials of the GCB.
In fact, he said that the Senior National Selection Panel is dominated by Afro-Guyanese while the Junior Selection Panel benefits from an equal composition of Indo and Afro Guyanese.
The members of the Senior Selection Panel are Reyon Griffith (Chairman), Esaun Crandon, Michael Hyles Franco, Clive Brimon and Sanasie. The Members of the Junior Selection Panel are Nazimul Drepaul, Aotto Christani, Julian Moore and Anil Persaud.
Sanasie also stated that 95 percent of the coaches of the national teams are Afro Guyanese. In this regard, he mentioned that the coaches of Guyana’s under 19, 17 and 15 national teams are Julian Moore, Orin Bailey and Winston Smith respectively.
Further, Sanasie noted that the election/selection structure is so designed that clubs, associations and counties are involved in election and selection processes.
Addressing the channeling of cash, Sanasie said that GCB does not benefit from the financial support of government. “Neither this government or the one before support us financially. The money comes from West Indies Cricket Board or what was raised by the Guyana Cricket Board because what we receive from the West Indies Cricket Board is minimal for our budget.”
In Dr. Hinds’s column, he said, “This statistic would shock Guyanese. The 14-man squad that represented Guyana at the Regional Under-15 tournament in Jamaica earlier this year included 11 Indian Guyanese and three African Guyanese players…Further, the statistic on the youth team suggests that only Indian Guyanese boys are interested in cricket, or are good enough to represent the nation – or that other ethnic groups are marginalized.”
Sanasie said that he could not definitively say that Hinds was incorrect when he stated that only two Afro-Guyanese were on the under 15 team that went to Jamaica.
However, he said that names can sometimes mislead. “If I tell you about a Troy Persaud you will think that he is Indian but that is not always the case.”
Also, Sanasie said, “Maybe Hinds conveniently forgot to mention, or does not know, that the under 17 team currently in Trinidad has two Amerindians. Why didn’t he talk about them; what? They are not included as Guyanese?”
Sanasie could not state the ethnicity of the other members of that team in Trinidad. He said, “I do not have that in front of me right now, but I can get that for you at another time.”
Hinds had written, too, that “member boards and associations which are more ethnically balanced have, for the most part, been marginalized from participating at the higher levels of administration.
“Challenges in the courts have highlighted the various issues in this regard. Representatives of these boards and associations have been working tirelessly to educate Guyanese on what is happening and to get government to intervene to change the situation. They have been dubbed trouble makers.
“As a consequence, the areas where African Guyanese boys live, and clubs that they belong to, are deliberately starved of resources, and they are often overlooked for national selection.”
Sanasie said, “None of that is true.”
Dr. Hinds had posited that dictatorship in Guyana’s cricket administration was institutionalized under the PPP as part of their ethno-racial domination of Guyana. Of that, I am certain.
So, Mr. Jagdeo, this is one area of race relations I would love to discuss with you with the aim of changing it.
Sanasie responded, “Jagdeo is no friend of the Guyana Cricket Board. In fact, he and his government attempted to take over the Cricket Board and it was rejected. He (Jagdeo) nor his government was ever involved in the selection processes.”
Sanasie continued, “My previous comments were made on behalf of the GCB but this is from me, Anand Sanasie. If Hinds has a problem with Jagdeo let him deal with Jagdeo and leave cricket out of it. Because, in my opinion, neither of them (Dr. Hinds or Jagdeo) has enough knowledge about cricket and its management in Guyana to the extent that they can have a debate.
I am aware that David Hinds is part of this group calling themselves stakeholders of Guyana cricket and he has a horse in the race. I will say this; his horse has lost.
Since I replaced Claude Raphael as director on the West Indies Cricket Board I am aware that there has been a belief that that should not have been. I will leave that there.”
Read Dr. Hinds’ entire column at: https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2018/07/08/dictatorship-and-racism-in-guyanese-cricket-can-we-talk-about-this-mr-jagdeo/.