The bourgeois and petty-bourgeois class and the decline of the Georgetown Cricket Club

Jan 09, 2020 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

No government, past or present, can be blamed for the dilapidated state of the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC). The GCC is a private club; it is owned by the membership and it is this membership which is responsible for the run-down state of the facility.
The ground was established 161 years ago, making it one of the oldest grounds in the Caribbean. It hosted its last international match in May 2006, just one year prior to the hosting in the Caribbean of Cricket World Cup 2007
That event saw many Caribbean countries constructing new stadiums in order to be eligible to host matches. Guyana was forced to go to India for assistance to build a new stadium because the GCC did not meet the required standards and it was not practical, as will be explained, for it to be upgraded to reach those standards.
GCC would not have qualified to host any matches. It huge, shaky, wooden double-decker stands with hard timber seats would not pass muster. The security perimeter required around the ground would have required the government to purchase all the properties opposite the ground, one block deep.
The seating capacity for the stands would not have been adequate. And the poor drainage, lifeless pitches and the lack of adequate parking and proper dressing rooms all but ruled GCC out of contention to host any matches.
GCC had to be abandoned if Guyana was to stand any chance of hosting future matches. A number of the smaller territories in the Caribbean were constructing new and modern cricket stadiums. More than a dozen stadiums were built or refurbished for CWC but only 8 of these, including the Providence Stadium, were selected to host matches by the International Cricket Council.
There was lot of criticism of the Jagdeo administration for building the new stadium. But if that new stadium was not built, Guyana would never have seen another international cricket match.
Bourda would have stood no chance of competing for international cricket with the more than 13 other regional territories. And as is well known, international tours are now shorter than in the past when teams would tour for months and play territorial matches and at least five test matches.
The Georgetown Cricket Club Ground went into decline not because of the lack of government support but because its membership many of whom were more interested in the main benefit membership provided – seeing international cricket for free an in exclusive pavilion.
No sooner had international cricket ceased to be hosted at GCC, than most of the members abandoned the club. They had no more interest because they no longer were entitled to see cricket free. One of them even had the temerity to write a letter to the media saying that GCC members should be granted special status at the Providence Stadium.
With the passage of time, the double decker wooden stands at Bourda deteriorated and had to be pulled down. These stands had been built with funds from the Guyana Cricket Board. In the interest of safety they were pulled down but the club did not have the resources to maintain even the smaller stands, such as the Kenny Wishart, the South Stand B and the bleachers.
The massive wooden scoreboard had to be condemned and dismantled. The Club’s pavilion is now showing signs of extreme wear.
Six years ago, a private businessmen made an offer to GCC to take over and develop the facility. The plan was to merge both the GCC and the GFC. The club rejected the proposal. And that was the end of that.
The GCC has no money to maintain the facility. Its large membership has dwindled and the facility has deteriorated.
No government was going to put the hundreds of millions of dollars required to rescue that ground when there was no chance of it hosting ever again international cricket. If the Club had to be saved, this would have had to be done by the membership. And they left in droves after 2006.
The majority of the old bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie membership abandoned the club after the ground could no longer be eligible to host international cricket. And so GCC has been left to degenerate.

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