BARBADOS – Four local sports associations, namely netball, volleyball, basketball and badminton, will have the use of the facilities at the Garfield Sobers Gymnasium at no cost to them from the next financial year.
The fees of approximately $1.6 million for use of the Gymnasium for a full domestic season will be borne by the National Sports Council (NSC). This was revealed by Prime Minister, Owen Arthur, as he delivered the feature address at the Annual Awards Ceremony of the NSC last Saturday, February 10 at the Gymnasium.
Mr. Arthur explained that the decision was based on the need to upgrade facilities available for these sports and further noted that the redevelopment of the Netball Stadium to become an indoor facility, built to the best international standards, was also on the cards.
The Prime Minister gave the assurance that Government would continue to provide the necessary support to the NSC for it to deepen and widen its work.
“But, I also look forward to receiving a submission from the NSC on advancing sport development in the future, and on strengthening and amplifying its role in such areas as a marketing of its venues, encouraging dialogue among groups and pointing a way forward for the more efficient use of scarce resources, physical and financial, at all levels,” he added.
Mr. Arthur noted, however, that the financial and physical investment that was being made in the development of sports and the availability of talent were not enough for it to succeed. He opined that success “depends heavily on the strength of the institutions involved to evolve and to sustain systems and organizational approaches to manage their affairs in a highly professional manner, and to use best practices in the development of the talents of our young people”.
He also cautioned that rather than being focused on developing modern, new institutional arrangements for the strengthening of their associations, some of the principal national sporting associations were embroiled “in a tremendous and constant spate of conflict and controversy”.
The Prime Minister said that “the institutional bedlam and disorder” which now attend every meeting of the Barbados Cricket Association, for example, was distracting significantly from its capacity to develop local cricket and to restore it to heights that used to be associated with the Barbados brand.
“Our National Football Association will not match the success of neighboring Caribbean associations in lifting our game to world standards if it continues to be mired in the kind of conflict that has been its wont of late,” he lamented.
Mr. Arthur suggested that what was needed for the development of sports was not conflict, but sustained, highly professional organizational engagement and innovation. “The enlightened approach by the Cave Hill Campus of the UWI, in a visionary move by Professor Beckles in the arena of cricket, is a model that should be emulated in other disciplines,” he urged.
