…express frustration on progress of rugby field upgrade
By Akeem Greene
President of the Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) Peter Green has voiced his frustration over what he deems a slothful progress to the upgrade of their playfield in the National Park which is being done through a collaborative effort between the National Parks Commission (NPC) and the National Sports Commission (NSC).
The current state of the National Park Rugby Field
“Beggars can’t be choosers and I understand that since I was the person that started that arrangement. The contractor volunteered to carry the mud there, he volunteered to level the field and I don’t know what the arrangement at this moment is but I really feel frustrated for my players since we have to use the athletics field. We are really frustrated with what is happening with the national park playing field for rugby at this moment”, those were the words of a disgruntled Green in an exclusive interview with Guyana Times Sport on Thursday.
Green’s frustration stems from the fact that since the playfield was taken over by NSC in July 2017 for upgrades to commence; but based on the current state, the process seems to be at a stalemate.
He feels the upgrade needs to finish soonest since it prevents the country from bidding to host international tournaments.
“Is the game too rough for the policy makers or they want something that will paper attractive? But if you don’t do something about that field this year we will continue having to travel overseas every year because we are unable to bid to hold championships for lack of playing facilities and that in turn is a bad effect on tourism”, the outgoing GRFU head contended.
He further stated “I am in the dark; I am wondering exactly if it is something against me but it is just that rugby is always pushed one side, we are not being taken seriously”.
However, this publication contacted Director of Sport Christopher Jones and he explained that the President should be well aware of the state of the project since members from the GRFU are a part of the committee overseeing the works.
“They are executive members of the ruby board that are part of the committee that actually meet in the national park as it relates to the work. Christopher ‘Kit’ Nascimento, John Lewis and two other members meet with the engineers when we discussed what we were doing with the rehabilitation of the ground.” Jones clarified.
Jones also indicated the inclement weather and sourcing of additional soil has hampered the process but they will be resuming soon.
“We encountered two problems, getting sufficient soil to continue to raise the ground and we ran into bad weather. There is an engineer who is providing pro-bono service with all his equipment. MPI [Ministry of Public Infrastructure] was kind of enough to provide several loads of soil to us but it was not sufficient so are currently waiting for them to identify a new site where we can get more soil and we are now seeing the clearance of the weather”.
The Director of Sport was further questioned on the regularity of updates between him and the GRFU and his response was, “I have been communicating with members of the union along with the engineer Komal Singh; I don’t know where Peter Green was in all of this since he is president of the union and should be aware of what is happening. Executives of GRFU are a part of the committee and we are in discussions since the work started”.
Upon completion of the ground, it will be outfitted with adequate lighting and bleachers for spectators.
