Last year, Government allocated $4.3 billion for sports development, and followed it up this year with $4.6B in the budget. The Government is demonstrating that the slogan “Sports – it’s not just a game” is being integrated as part of the development of our society. Sports can develop the character of the individual, as well as that of the community and the nation. Sport builds and nurtures the spirit of friendly competition; it provides healthy entertainment; it exercises the body; it focuses the spirit; it creates a climate of achievement; and it challenges the youths in particular to higher levels of endurance and attainment.
While sports initially were seen as private undertakings, as epitomised by the “amateur” traditions of cricket, in the last half of a century, professional sports have moved to centre stage, and in fact are today the driving force in modern sports development. The mantra seems to be that “all that the amateurs can achieve for sports, the professionals can do it better”. The professionals have taken games to such a level that they have a significant direct economic impact on the development of the countries as a whole.
This has been brought home most forcefully with the remarkable success of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) T-20 cricket tournament that was launched in 2013 – especially in Guyana, with its home team, the Guyana Amazon Warriors. When the idea of a West Indian T-20 Tournament was raised in 2012, most locals scoffed at it because they felt the logistical and organisational challenges, not to mention the financial demands, could not be overcome. However, one local company – the New Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation (New GPC) – felt otherwise. It not only purchased the local franchise (the Amazon Warriors), but actually sponsored the entire tournament, which became the Limacol CPL until the 2016 season.
This decision brought home the difference between the old amateur and the new professional approach to sports. Marketing surveys were done to verify that the markets were there for the product: T-20 cricket. The challenges were identified and, one by one, were addressed using modern project management approaches that emphasised planning, execution, and feedback mechanisms.
And so, when the Limacol CPL tournament kicked off on July 30 at the Kensington Oval in Barbados, very little had been left to chance. And the “jam-packed” stadiums with their enthusiastic cricketing fans in every one of the six venues – St Lucia, Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana, Antigua and Trinidad – testified to the success of the vision. Then there were the TV broadcasts to every continent on the globe.
Regardless of which team won the tournament, every West Indian country won numerous other prizes. First and foremost was the pride inspired in the hearts of every West Indian, who had been told that we could not run anything successfully. This is not an inconsequential achievement; for if people cannot believe, they can never achieve. West Indians now know that we can produce an event that is broadcast to every corner of the cricketing world, matching the highest standards achieved elsewhere – and then some.
Then there was the unity and amity displayed by the West Indian people who thronged the stadiums – and even among those who watched the games from their living rooms. Whether we call this building “social capital” or “one love”, the bottom line is that people who see themselves as embarked on a common mission can achieve so much more. More concretely, we can appreciate the economic spinoffs up close from the Guyana leg of the tournament. Every hotel in the Georgetown area has consistently been booked solid. The spectators from abroad brought with them all the well-known benefits of tourism: money pumped into the economy, not only in hotels, but into food providers, transportation services, sightseeing sites, souvenir sellers etc.
Tonight, our Warriors are in the finals against the St Lucia Patriots, and the eyes of the cricketing world will be fixed on Guyana. Go, Warriors!!
