None for Football!

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The Prime Minister’s comments could not have gone down well with the footballers of this country, the entire football fraternity and all sports-loving Vincentians at home and in the Diaspora.
The football fraternity would not be alone in recognising the overall significance of the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance’s untimely statement in Parliament.
It is a major indictment on the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.
It is an indictment on the entire Government in so far as not a single member of that side of the House dared to suggest to the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance that he was out of order.
His insensitivity to the nation’s sporting fraternity is now fully in the face of all sportspeople.
It is one thing to spout political rhetoric about one’s love and commitment to sports from the platforms of expediency. It is another and completely different thing to actually display a consistent level of commitment to sporting development in a country.

Sporting Priorities
It does not matter that we are building massive structures for cricket if we are not cognizant that we have completely missed the boat in respect of where our sporting priorities should have been and ought to be.
The home for football should have been a priority not just of this current administration but of administrations before. This is itself a stinging indictment on all of them.
What is unbelievable is that no one seems to have engaged in any serious analysis in respect of the prioritising of our sport based on popularity, general participation.
If we were to engage in such an exercise cricket would certainly not have been the primary beneficiary of the millions now being devoted to its infrastructure.
In no other sphere of national life has the Government dared to suggest that an activity with greatly diminishing support and enthusiasm among the population should have had so much resources pushed in its direction.
Now we are being told of the facilities for cricket being available to football after the CWC2007 and that this was always part of the plan. This is adhocracy at work and much more, it is putting the cart before the horse. If this is really the case then how do the authorities explain their failure to hold discussions of any sort with the football authorities in respect of the various programmes and requirements of the Federation?