Gunny Hinds’ removal – Victimisation or not?

On Friday 3rd February 2006 Stanley ‘Gunny’ Hinds, on secondment to the National Sports Council (NSC) since Otis Jack (teacher on secondment to the same institution) left local shores for UWI, received a letter indicating that he had to return to his substantive post of coach in the Division of Sports, in what is now the Ministry of Tourism, Youth and Sport.
The letter indicated that Gunny had to report to his substantive post on Monday 6th February 2006.
Background
Stanley ‘Gunny’ Hinds was one of this country’s most outstanding sportsmen. He was an outstanding footballer and cricketer before settling in the latter sport. He was a fixture as a spinner on the Vincentian team as well as on the Windwards’ and Combined Islands’ teams. Not only was he an outstanding bowler but he made a name from himself as a remarkable fieldsman.
Gunny, a stalwart with the once dominant Radcliffe cricket team here, played alongside the likes of Osborne Browne, now Manager (Ag) of the NSC, Julian Jack, now President of the local Cricket Association, Sid Murphy and Lance John, the current Chairman of the NSC. There is none among the aforementioned who did not want Gunny on this team. Each knew of Gunny’s immense capabilities.
Most importantly, the aforementioned cricketers would have understood, appreciated and encouraged Gunny’s intense competitiveness on the field of play, especially since as members of Radcliffe, defeat at the hands of another team was never perceived as a viable, acceptable option.
It may well be fear to suggest that even as the foregoing may have encouraged Gunny’s fierce competitiveness in cricket since the taste of victory was always sweet, they each feared him for precisely the same reason.
Ken Boyea, then Managing Director of the East Caribbean Group of Companies (ECGC) undertook to have the company commit to the payment of a salary to Gunny, after he had retired from competitive cricket.
Gunny was then attached to the Division of Sport, then under the leadership of Houston Payne.
Some years later, Gunny’s position as coach was regularized and he was brought into the mainstream of government employment in the Division of Sport.

Division of Sport
Located in the Division of Sport, Gunny maintained his strong-willed approach to his work. He handled the annual cricket competitions among the nation’s schools with the same zeal he possessed in his playing days.
Gunny’s heavy demands on himself often filtered across and at times onto the heads of those around him. He often saw and perhaps still sees his approach as ideal since it would have emerged from his years of experience as a cricketer and a man who has always been very demanding in the realm of results.