GCA must investigate racial allegation against Travis Dowlin

Apr 15, 2009 Sports

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Says Sean Devers

Insularity and internal politics among many local cricket administrators is becoming common place at a time when our cricket is at an all time low with Guyana finishing ‘dead last’ in the regional four-day competition.

Guyana’s last home game at the impressive Guyana National Stadium at Providence was played before empty stands and despite the dropping of Skipper Travis Dowlin and West Indies ODI player Leon Johnson for the final match, Guyana finished the seven-team competition without a single win and six outright defeats.

While it was expected that the performance of the players and new Coach Ravindranauth Seeram would be the major agenda on the GCB review of Guyana’s showing this year, the joint letter from the Demerara and Berbice Cricket Boards with racial allegations against Dowlin, must now take priority.

It is understood that the letter, which was published in the Stabroek News, was received by the GCB executive at their last meeting last week Thursday and will be dealt with at the GCB’s next meeting.

In a multiracial society like Guyana, allegations of racial discrimination against the Captain of a national sporting team is very serious and it is imperative that the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) also launch an immediate investigation into the matter in a country where racism is such an important and sensitive issue that the Guyana Government has set up an Ethnic Relations Committee (ERC) as a constitutional requirement.

Since the letter from the two country boards appeared in the newspapers, there has been no public word from any of the parties involved, especially Dowlin, a Guyana first class cricketer since 1997. One wonders if the 32-year-old Dowlin understands the seriousness of such a public allegation against him.

It is understood that Dowlin has not taken any legal action against the DCB, BCB or the Stabroek News and the rumour mill is now working overtime as members of the public discuss the matter.

The last paragraph of the letter which was sent to the Secretary of the GCB and the local media stated that ‘we have heard some very disturbing reports regarding the type of leadership our current national captain (Dowlin) has been displaying towards some players which borders on racism and would urge that this matter be investigated and dealt with forthwith’.

Since no evidence or explanation to support the charges against Dowlin was documented in the letter which was signed by DCB Head Bissoon Singh and GCB President Keith Foster, this newspaper felt it unwise to publish such an allegation before the GCB looked at the matter.

However, since another newspaper has made the allegation public, the onus is now on the GCA to launch an investigation to clear Dowlin’s name and public image if the allegation is unfounded or implement severe punishment on the public figure if he is found guilty of such an inhumane act.

Informed sources told this newspaper that Guyana batsman Gajanand Singh reportedly made the allegations after he was allegedly snubbed by Dowlin when the two were batting together for this country.

It is understood that both Coach Seeram and Manager Carl Moore knew nothing of the problem between the two Guyana teammates because Singh never reported the matter to either of them.

It is further understood that Singh told a family member of the incident, who in turn informed a Guyana selector who then spoke to a GCB member resulting in the letter being written.

A GCB member informed that Dowlin was relieved of the captaincy and dropped from the Guyana team because ‘he was not listening’ during his leadership of the team this season.

This writer is among those who feel that Dowlin’s captaincy lacked imagination this season but it is shocking that the DCC player has been accused of being a racist.

This writer travelled with the Guyana team for their matches this season and while some amount of ‘cliquism’ could have been detected, there was never racial discrimination by Dowlin.

Those who know Dowlin must have been shocked by the allegation from the DCB and BCB based on an alleged complaint from a player who did not see it fit to let the team management know of his problem with his Captain.

There are always more than one side to any story so it is crucial for the future of the game in a county that has more than one race group playing together under the Golden Arrow Head that this matter is dealt with swiftly.

Our motto is one people, one nation, one destiny and nobody must ever be allowed to discriminate against another because of the colour of his skin or the texture of his hair and anyone found guilty of this, especially if they officially represent this county must be sent a clear message that such a practice will never be tolerated.

At the same time anyone found guilty of publicly instigating a race issue without facts to support their claim should also be dealt with since damaging someone’s character through slander is just as devious as the person who practices racism.

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