No. 67 Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Eye-on the Ball
With Caig Oates
The Hanover Division One started last week without much fanfare as per usual. Despite intense media criticism the association still goes about carrying out its function without adequate information getting out to the public.
Eye-on the Ball
With Caig Oates
The Hanover Division One started last week without much fanfare as per usual. Despite intense media criticism the association still goes about carrying out its function without adequate information getting out to the public.
Again, this leaves the question to be asked if there is an oversight body that this group reports to. Now, to the best of my knowledge the Western Confed is the body that runs football in the region but it would appear that its Chairman Linnel Mclean is scared to take the necessary corrective actions to bring the parish in line. Despite calls in this medium to get involved.
It was a disgruntled club member who informed me that the competition had started. The person complained that his team was in the league last season and was looking forward to participating this season when while passing a football game he was advised that the league was in progress. Now if what he is saying is true we are in bigger trouble than I originally thought. As a result of the complaint I received I did my own investigation which revealed the following.
* The competition started last week
* The competition have 10 participating
* The competition is divided into two groups of five
* That each team will play four games before the semi final round
* That the competition will last no longer that one month
* That the two qualifying teams will participate in the major league competition that is slated to start sometime in April / December depending on sponsorship.
* That the prize money has not yet been
* That more than one team has stated that they are of the opinion that the first prize money is $10,000
* That no press release was done before the start of the league
What is it that we are not seeing? This situation cannot be tenable if these are the facts and both the business community and the political directorate from
both sides of the fence need to get involved. How can we have a competition where a team is only allowed to play four games? What can this do to develop players? Football is a tool that is used to drive social upliftment and provides recreation, but for too long it has been allowed to become the footstool of some persons. This cannot be allowed to continue and it is painful that this is allowed to pass each year and persons who should fight against these atrocities bury their heads in the sand, like ostriches. This is just not right.
$10,000 FIRST PRIZE
If some of the teams are to be believed they are of the opinion that they are playing for $10,000. I spoke to a member of the group who stated that this is not so, but he too could not furnish any information as to the actual prize money. If this is indeed so then God help us. The cost to outfit a team today can range between $60,000 and $100,000 give or take. When travelling and welfare are taken into consideration this inflates costing to anywhere close to $100,000 and $150,000 just to participate in a competition of this magnitude. Therefore a paltry $10,000 or $25,000 for first place is just not acceptable whether it is a sponsored competition or not. If persons cannot get the requisite sponsorship then they should step aside and allow persons who can to manage the affairs of the parish.
At this stage, the other western parishes have kicked off their leagues and Hanover is just playing its qualification Division One game. Furthermore, is it fair for a team to be playing a qualification league in March and be thrown in the top league in April? This is pass joke and the sooner it is addressed the better.
The group must tell the public the amount of money the teams are playing for. This should not be kept a secret. The organizers need to come straight and divulge all the information that relates to the league. It can't be business as usual and Mr. McLean and Captain Burrell had better wake up and smell the coffee.
They have been elected to serve and must carry out their mandates no matter the consequences. They can start by ensuring uniformity in the entire parish league across the island. This should be for the start and ending of the parishes' calendar season and minimum standard prize money. Enough said.
Email your comments to crgoates (at) yahoo.com.
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