by Keith Joseph
The year now concluding has proven to be a rather interesting one for sport around the world. We have been treated to some of the best alongside some of the worst. In the end, given the deleterious consequences for sport the bad seemed to have outdone the good.
We are nearing the end of yet another year in sport in St Vincent and the Grenadines and one cannot help but bemoan the low performance standards across the board.
The News newspaper, clearly the nation’s leader in sports coverage, has, since being established in 1989, been chronicling the performances of Vincentian sportspersons across the globe. It is this document, more than any other in this country, that as been there every time, encouraging our athletes even as they watched the performances decline, leaving us so often behind our neighbours in the various sporting encounters.
The old people say that there are always two sides to every story. Others say there are three sides – yours, mine, and the truth. The latter view suggests that there is always an expectation of bias/prejudice where contentious issues are concerned and therefore the third side is the truth that is expected to set us all free.
The recent front page headline in one of the weekly newspapers that referred to some of the footballers who use the Arnos Vale Playing Field on Sunday mornings as ‘Renegades’ may well have sparked some national discourse on the use of the facility more generally. In this Column we seek to address some aspects of the situation, making a contribution of our own two cents worth.
Over the past several months we have had one revelation after another in respect of the threats to the sport of football as we have come to know it.
While sporting enthusiasts hold fast to the view that sport is bigger than any single individual it is clear that many an individual have negatively impacted the sport to such an extent that it would be forever tainted. Read the rest of this entry »
Over the years there has been much discussion on the matter of the absence of world class performances of many of our athletes and teams. Vincentians frequently accuse the various national sports associations of failing to keep the Vincentian flag flying at regional and international competitions and make comparisons with other Caribbean countries and their achievements. In the anxiety to point accusing fingers however few take time to engage in astute analysis of the realities impacting the athletes and teams of this country. In this Column we attempt to address the issue of support structures for our athletes.
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