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Former National player and Coach Abdullah ‘Zico’ Hamid cries neglect
Linden – the forgotten place of local basketball…
By Rawle Toney
There’s a rich history of basketball in Guyana, dating back to days before establishment of the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) in 1961.
A group enjoying their usual ‘afternoon sweat’ on the Amelia’s Ward Hard Court. That facility can’t not be used for competitive basketball in its current state.
Speak of basketball in Guyana and you’ll be hard-pressed to not mention anything about Linden. Have a debate around who are some of the best players to grace the courts in Guyana, and for sure, the likes of ‘Fat Wayne’ Andries aka ‘bouncer’, Auric Tappin, Alwin Wilson, James Brusche, Steve Niels Jr and Kerwin Lafarge will be mentioned.
Wismar Pistons, YMCA Kings, MSC Lakers, MSC Knicks, Central Mackenzie Hawks, Seventy-Sixers, Silver Nets (just to name a few), were some of Guyana’s top clubs, all out of Linden.
Basketball in Guyana saw the emergence of the Victory Valley Royals, another Linden club that would’ve gone on to win National titles.
One thing the aforementioned clubs and top players in Linden had in common was access to proper basketball courts.
However, today’s players in the Mining Town are living through the ‘down side’ of sports in their community, and basketball happens to be one of the hardest-hit.
“Our biggest challenge we have with basketball in Linden right now is playing facilities,” former National player and national coach, Abdullah ‘Zico’ Hamid told Kaieteur News.
Abdullah ‘Zico’ Hamid
Formerly known as Ron Robertson, ‘Zico’ as he is also popularly called, is a household in Linden with regards to basketball and one of the best players out of Linden.
Through his Abdullah Hamid Foundation, ‘Zico’, over the past almost three decades, helped to develop a number of talented players that went on to represent Guyana and even play at the collegiate level.
With basketball facilities in Linden in a deplorable state, Hamid said as the game continues to evolve and facilities in Linden failing to be upgraded, the authorities for the game – the Linden Amateur Basketball Association (LABA) – will have to revamp and find a way forward.
“We’re seeing a lot of youths coming out to play basketball right now. For the first time in Linden we saw four camps in one year and all attracted over 60 kids, so it means definitely we have to revamp the way we deal with basketball,” Hamid noted.
He added, “Basketball has been suffering for a while because of the pandemic, we haven’t played competitive basketball for almost three years now.”
“Some of the clubs are very dormant, some of the players are very hesitant in wanting to play because first, the premier venue, the Mackenzie Hard Court, is in a deplorable state that needs to get back up and running. Retrieve Hard Court, we’re trying with it because the lights are the next problem. We have Silvercity, Christianburg – those are courts that produced talented players over the years and to see them run-down, it means we have to get a lot of work done,” the former YMCA Kings player said.
Hamid lamented that “even if it’s through the private sector or the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, somebody needs to see that there’s a need for facilities to upgrade in Linden.”
In July, the Buxton Community Centre was equipped with new basketball backboards and other equipment, but Hamid told Kaieteur news “It was surprising to see that a backboard is being donated to Buxton and none donated from Linden, when Linden has been producing national players, male and female, right across the globe of Guyana.”
“It’s strange and something needs to be done to see that the facilities in Linden, upgraded to a status where we can play competitive basketball at the International level,” the usually candid basketball coach said.
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