Sports is a stepchild in Guyana

Aug 21, 2016 Features / Columnists, My Column

The past two weeks have been good for the lovers of sports and a wakeup call for Guyana, in this world where sports is perhaps the most powerful event to attract people. Brazil pulled off the 2016 Olympics and highlighted the extent to which security could be enhanced.
There was this American swimmer who fashioned a movie script after a drunken night with friends. Being a world renowned swimmer and the fact that the Americans kept their cameras firmly on their own, the story immediately gained a life of its own.
His story was that he was going to his corner of the Olympic village when people dressed as policemen pulled him over, put a gun to his head, and robbed him of everything except the chains he was wearing, his medal and whatever object of value he might have had, including his cell phone.
Immediately he set about to tarnish the image of this country that was under intense focus from the start. There were even calls for the Olympics to be shifted. What this swimmer, Ryan Lochte, never bargained for was the extent of technology in that country. He also never considered that this was one of the largest economies in the world—a First World country.
With that attempt to place a blemish on the Games, I saw the extent of security cameras in Rio de Janeiro. Guyana has started on a similar project given the relatively high volume of crime in the country. I was heartened when then President Bharrat Jagdeo talked about these cameras. They worked in a few cases, but they failed to do what they really were supposed to do.
Millions of dollars went into the project that now demands millions of dollars more. Meanwhile, just about every business place has these cameras and more than a few homes sport them. The cameras have become ubiquitous.
Guyana is moving along, but it is not moving in the direction of sport. Our athletes are simply not up to scratch. I saw the son of the Business Minister finishing second in his heat and pride swelled my heart. Here was somebody who was on the cusp of challenging the best. But where is the money coming from for his training?
He might not have been swimming had his parents not dug deep into their pockets. This is only one example. We have runners, albeit people living overseas, who have used whatever facilities at their disposal to hone their skills. But back in Guyana, the support from the local business community is minimal.
I recently told someone that our businessmen are more interested in having massive bank accounts and acquiring even more wealth without helping to invest in sport. We have a synthetic athletic track that came almost fifty years after Jamaica installed its own. I don’t see banners indicating that certain businesses are behind promoting track and field. It is the same with the aquatic stadium.
There is no young athlete who is being sponsored by a business house, as would be done in other Caribbean countries. Dwight Yorke, the Trinidadian footballer of world renown, was sponsored by a Trinidad businessman. He didn’t have to worry about food on the table while he trained.
Usain Bolt, the prodigy, got sponsored help when he burst on the scene. Today he is unbeatable and he is giving back to the community, the country, and the people who helped him. There are many others who are now known by almost all of us who enjoy such a facility that they now attract millions of dollars from powerful companies in the United States.
I say this not because I expect our business community to pour millions of dollars behind athletes, but because we need to break out of the shackles that have us believing that it is the responsibility of the government to promote sports and every athlete.
We must be the only country in which athletes are left home because they cannot find a few thousand dollars to represent their country. People leaving to cover certain sports events overseas beg a few businessmen for support and get it. But when I look at the extent of the support I see a pittance—a few hundred US dollars.
There was the Lotto Fund, some of which should have gone to sports. I don’t know if there was any money in it. I do know that some went to the radio and television station to broadcast cricket some time back.
Our badminton and squash players are what they are because their parents could have afforded the cost of support. And if there was a working adult involved in these activities, certainly that employee would not have been given the requisite time-off.
Way back when, the late Forbes Burnham was so into sports that if someone was selected to represent Guyana, that person was given all the necessary time off to train. And he got his pay.
Burnham brought the best coaches for things like boxing and table tennis from Cuba and China. He even brought chess coaches. We don’t get that any more. Our lone bronze medal is credited to a Cuban coach.
If we spend, we will get. People from countries are pursuing athletic scholarships in the United States because the American people are paying. The universities know that sports is big business, so they invest.
Nike is the world’s largest seller of footwear because it spends millions of dollars on promotion and gains massive tax deductions on such expenditures. I am sure those businessmen who invest in sports personalities will get the money back in the form of tax deductions. At the same time they would be helping to develop people who would make us proud while we sit and look at television.

1 thoughts on “Sports is a stepchild in Guyana”

19CAGriffith48 August 22, 2016 at 10:52 pm

“There is no young athlete who is being sponsored by a business house, as would be done in other Caribbean countries. Dwight Yorke, the Trinidadian footballer of world renown, was sponsored by a Trinidad businessman. He didn’t have to worry about food on the table while he trained.”

Gone are the days when Bookers Brothers,Sambach Parker,Sprostons and Juicee Beverage employed some of the best athletes and fielded their own local team .