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Sports in Guyana is a living hell
By Frederick Kissoon
This country has four daily newspapers each of which has a sports section. Guyana has also a National
Steve Ninvalle
Sports Commission and an Olympic Association. To date, there has been no reaction from any sporting quarters as to the treatment a national boxing champion received from a patrol of the Guyana Police Force and the Commander of A Division, Clifton Hicken.
If sportsmen and sportswomen who have risen to national levels could be treated this way then the analyst can safely conclude that the world of sport performers in Guyana is a dirty, low-down, low-level existence that no one cares about thus the police can treat them the way they want to. But wait a minute!
There is class dimension to this mistreatment. Before we go to a sociological indictment of Guyanese society, let me describe the horrors a young boxing champion faced at the hands of the police.
After training, National Junior Flyweight Champion, Richard Subratee was jogging home in the morning, two Fridays ago. A police patrol picked him up in Charlestown (please keep in mind where he was picked up; Charlestown). He identified himself. He told them in days’ time he will be in Barbados to represent his country in a Caribbean tournament.
They explained it was a routine matter; he would be part of an identification parade and soon would be free to leave. Subratee figured he had no problem with that. He entered the vehicle. The patrol on its way to the supposed place of the identification parade picked up ten other youths from Charlestown and Albouystown.
Subratee was taken to the Brickdam lock-ups on Friday morning and spent the entire day there until
K. A Juman Yassin
the night when, he was shipped off to the holding cell of the Prashad Nagar Police Outpost. Designed for four persons, the cell had to accommodate Subratee and six others.
Subratee’s Boxing Coach visited the Brickdam Station the morning but was told he will be at an identification parade then let go. The Coach felt assured. Time passed and the identification parade died a natural death. It never came into being.
Subratee’s mother then sought the help of the office of the Prime Minister. A high level functionary called Commander Hicken but Hicken’s reply was that the police should be allowed to do their job.
Boxing official, Steve Ninvalle on Saturday midday contacted Hicken. The Commander agreed to release the boxer but midday turned into night. On Saturday night, Subratee was released without an apology, explanation or compensation. Hicken is still on the job, the members of the patrol are still on the job. This is Guyana for you.
This is the Guyana Police Force for you. This is the Guyanese world of sports for you. No one voiced a commentary on what happened to a national boxer. What about the class dimension I wrote about above. Would the police pick up a youth walking in Subryanville? The answer is no. Would the police pick up a youth walking in Lamaha Gardens? The answer is no. This brings us to K. Juman Yassin.
Boxing is an Olympics sport. Mr. Yassin to date has made no inquiry about the mistreatment of Subratee.
Clifton Hicken
Mr. Yassin later this month, will be contesting the presidency of the Guyana Olympic Association.
If he wins, by the time he contests again, he would have chalked up 30 years at the helm of the association. But even if we fault Yassin for his drive for permanency, what about his Pavlovian supporters?
Those associations that meekly vote for him and not for Guyana’s progress; But I guess by now we know how fickle is the mind and soul and heart of a nation named Guyana. I always thank my lucky star I was never made into a lawyer.
I would have received millions of days in jail for contempt because law and the courts are non-functional. I am glad I am not a sportsman in Guyana. I may have received millions of libel suits. Mr. Yassin continues to run for office. Cricket is in turmoil. Football was in so much tempestuous waters it is a scientific miracle that it did not drown.
Now the cycling federation just had a coup. An Interim Management Committee is now the administration. The only sport untouched in Guyana is the Chinese Checkers Federation of which I am the permanent President.
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