‘We inherited very little for sports from the British’ – Reds

May 30, 2021 Sports

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Distractions affecting modern-day Sportspersons

By Sean Devers

Speaking on last Wednesday’s Sean Devers Sports Watch on Kaieteur Radio, Veteran Sportscaster Guyanese Reds Perreira, a walking encyclopaedia of Sports history, provided his views on Sports in Guyana over the last 55 years and give a brief synopsis on what transpired just prior the Guyana becoming a sovereign Nation.
The 82-year-old, who resides in St. Lucia, said Guyana inherited very little from the British in terms of sports facilities when this Country gained Independence on May 26, 1966.
Reds explained that the Dutch and French were very different to the British when it came to developing sports in their colonies.
In 1960 he went to Suriname to spend six months with National Basketball and Football Coaches.
“When I got to Suriname they already had a National Stadium with a 400 Meters track, a 500 meters banking, about 12 Basketball Courts, an Indoor Centre, a National State of the art Swimming pool where the public paid 25 Dutch cents to go in, a very modern pool. They had a major pool, a smaller pool and a pool for beginners.

The Dutch and the French… I have been to Martinique and Guadalupe…they have poured money into those Countries in terms of infrastructure. You had the see the facilities for Football and Basketball in Martinique,” informed Reds.
The British didn’t leave us with a great deal. We only had the Portuguese club with is now the Racket Centre which was the main Tennis Centre. GCC had Courts too, the South Dakota race track, the National Park was a private exclusive Golf Course, the GFC was for Football and Hockey.
The British were more interested in building roads to the ports to get their raw materials out they were not interest in social programmes.

There wasn’t a great deal of stuff that the Government of the day inherited. Later the National Sports Hall was built. And much later we see now Providence, the Athletics track and field Center at Leonora and the Aquatic centre at Lilliendaal.
These were a few things we have managed to archive since Independence. One of the problems that all Governments face is that they never have enough money to all the things they would like to do.
Sugar was the King but the price went down and while we had gold and diamonds and Rice if we had the kind of money in the past we could have worked to build the institutions and facilities to creating the Coaching level much higher,” continued Reds who commentated on Boxing, Football, Hockey, Table Tennis, Basketball, Netball and Motor Racing.
When questioned that with more facilities and scholarships for Athletes than in the 1960s, 70s and even 80’s, the standard of most sports now have not improved as was expected.
Guyana 641-5 against Barbados when Fredericks, Butcher and Kanhai scored centuries in the first match after Independence still remains Guyana’s highest First-Class total in 55 years, Mike Parris’ Bronze Medal in 1980 in the Moscow is Guyana’s only Olympic Medal in 41 years, Guyana’s best year in Football was back in 2006 when they won 11 consecutive matches, Aliann Pompey and Marian Burnett winning Medals at the Pan Am Games in 2010 was the last time Guyana Medalled at a prestige Event.

Red said that improved facilities and Scholarships programmes, which is still far behind places like Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, Jamaica and the USA Virgin Islands, are all well and good but if you don’t have proper programming you are not going to get out of those facilities what you need get.
“In the Colonial times Guyana was rated with Jamaica and Trinidad and was far ahead of Barbados… the Cycling and Track and Field events we had at GCC was far ahead of anything in the Caribbean.
The late Barry Massey brought top Venezuelan, Trinidadian and Colombian Cyclists and our Cyclists held their own. Track & Field was of a very high standard.
But these facilities you are talking about have recently come and maybe you expect too much in a short period of time. I am not trying to be defence Lawyer,” added the experienced Broadcaster.
According to Reds there are more distractions today than in the ‘old’ days.
“There are a lot of distractions now and young people have a lot more things they can do now.

Associations have to fight very hard to keep the young players in the sport, be it cricket, cycling, football, Basketball.
There were no TV, Internet, there was one Radio station… ZFY, no mobile phones, Facebook, whatsapp and so on. So the young people played sports for the love of it.
I played a bit cricket at the St Mary’s school, but is cricket played in primary schools now?” asked Reds, who made his Test debut as a commentator in 1971 when India toured the West Indies.
Reds said that once the Covid-19 is out of the way and the Carifta Games are held in Guyana next year then Guyana can attract scouts who would come to look for talent to take on scholarships to the high schools and Colleges.
“We do not have the amount of Guyanese on Athletic scholarships like most of the other Caribbean Countries.
We only had…I think …two Guyanese who played in the NBA…. one is Collison, the son of sprinter June Griffith, but that’s as far as the NBA goes,” said Reds, who has done 145 Test matches between 1971 and 2005.
Red said that players like Sir Garfield Sobers, Rohan Kanhai and Lance Gibbs never made money from Cricket. That improved a bit when Clive Lloyd led West Indies in Kerry Parker series, adding, leagues like the CPL is putting millions of US dollars into the pockets of West Indians including Guyanese.

“In the past when we heard of a Minister of Sports in the Guyana Government it was a department of sports with that Minister being responsible for Education along with Culture, Youth and Sport, but now that has changed under Minister Charles Ramson who has his own Ministry and could focus more on one area.
When the next budget comes out I think sports will be allocated more money, especially with the Oil, than most of the Caribbean Islands including Jamaica and Trinidad and this will see more facilities being built or upgraded.
This will facilitate a stronger Coaching system where foreign Coaches can come in and not only Coach Athletes but Coach the Coaches,” continued Reds, who served as the President of the Guyana Basketball Association from 1969-1975 and attended three Central American Championships.
The versatile Reds, who was Sports Advisor to former Minister of Sport, Shirley Field-Ridley and served as Chairman of the National Sports Council (NSC) in the 1970s, stressed the importance of Clubs as opposed to teams and emphasized that strong clubs make strong Associations, they have a mandate to fulfil. The Minister can’t do with work for the associations they have to it for themselves with his help.
“I want to wish the new National Sports Commission (NSC) well. This Minster seems to have a special interest in the development of Sports and with more funds available now and the good work of Minister Ramson meeting with the various Associations and trying to provide what they need, the horizon looks bright for Guyana in sports,” Stated Reds, the fifth of nine children.
Weightlifter Martin Dias, Footballer Nigel Codrington, Squash Player Nicolette Fernandes, Athletes James Wren Gilkes, Aliann Pompey, Marcia June Griffith, Table Tennis player George Braithwaite, Basketballer Mike Brusche, Cyclist Nevil Hunte, Boxers Mike Parris, Gwendolyn O’Neil and Andrew ‘six head’ Lewis and Cricketers Clive Lloyd and Shiv Chanderpaul are among those sportsmen who helped put Guyana on map during the past 55 years.

 

 

 

 

 

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