The World Cup disaster

Not only was the 2007 ICC World Cup supposed to have been a cash cow for the region, it was supposed to have been a show piece and was expected to bring thousands of visitors to the region. That dream, for dream it appears to have been, has fast faded and the region is, among other things, engulfed with infighting, government Ministers blaming not only the failure of the team but the region’s negotiators for killing the West Indian spirit and through their restrictions and ticket prices, keeping the local spectators away. All of this is nothing but amusing. Are these people only now realising what they had gotten into?{{more}} Mia Mottley has suddenly realised that Caribbean cricket culture was under threat as she criticised those negotiators who accepted the kind of arrangements that they did. I had concluded very early that the arrangements for the Cricket World Cup represented a betrayal of Caribbean people and culture and decided that I was not going to see any of the games here although I was hoping that the games would have been well supported. It really angers me that now the cash cow no longer seems to be alive and with the negative comments about the World Cup that are emerging, some Caribbean leaders are at the forefront of those making critical comments. Has it dashed their hopes of glory? From all appearances Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica were hoping for a ‘good feeling spirit’ that would have allowed them to capitalise on it and to call national elections immediately following the World Cup.

Initially cruise ships were supposed to have been chartered to bring people to the different venues. Homeowners were asked to do necessary innovations to provide rooms for the expected boom in tourist arrivals. Crafts and entertainment people were led to expect the best and to prepare for the glory days. In St.Vincent there was even talk of having the cottages at Buccament ready to receive guests expected to come in for the warm up games. The truth is we all got totally carried away and seemed to have lost all sense of reality and of reasoning. I first began to realise how ridiculous all of this was when there was the expectation here that English and Australian fans would have accompanied their teams here in numbers for the warm up games.

Now the warm up matches were played in St.Vincent from March 5. Australian fans would, no doubt, have been confident that their team would have made it to the finals, the English fans are perhaps still hoping so. 55 days would have been the approximate length of time between the warm up games and the finals. How many fans would have been able to get 55 days holidays to come to the Caribbean and how many could have afforded the accommodation costs? Granted that not every one would have been staying at some of the hotels whose prices went up to US$458 a night, but it would still have been an expensive proposition. So why were they building up people’s expectations to the levels they did? St.Vincent would certainly not have had a problem because between the teams, media personnel and CWC officials all of our hotel rooms would have been taken up.

The point has to be made that to some of the organisers and negotiators the World Cup was not about Cricket. It was about a tourism thrust. Cricket was important in that it was the spring board. We blame the ICC for the high ticket prices but Malcolm Speed the ICC Chief Executive declared that they had nothing to do with the setting of ticket prices. The truth is that when the organisers thought of ticket prices and of spectators they were not thinking of West Indian people. They were thinking of the foreign visitors who they felt would have had no problem buying tickets at those prices. This was part of their calculations.

Then there is Chris Dehring, Chief Executive of the CWC. He was the major Cheer leader spreading the expected good news. Now his answer to the criticisms is that the problem was a communication one and that the restrictions were never really in place. All that was needed was for persons to have registered their musical and other instruments before. The question is what would prior registration have changed? Now in a state of panic he is saying that they no longer have to register before the game. His new project is to make sure that the stands are full for the remaining games. The Barbadians who invested hugely in this thing for cricket as for tourism reasons have already announced that the restrictions will be removed. They however didn’t bargain on the West Indian team making its exit at this time. This might however not matter for the Australian, English, New Zealand, South African and Sri Lankan fans might still be around but the doom already cast over the series will not instantly disappear.

And then to add to the disaster there is the performance of the West Indies cricket team. There are many shocked persons throughout the region simply because West Indian fans have always been overly optimistic. If they had closely followed the fortunes of their team over the past two years they should never have been caught in the shock that has gripped them. Our team is a second rate team, lacking a motivating captain, lacking class bowlers and with batsmen who appear to function by the phase of the moon. Everything that could have gone wrong seemed to have gone wrong. Lara’s captaincy was unimaginative, often confusing and certainly lacking the ability to stimulate the team. But then there was only so much the beleaguered captain could do. He certainly couldn’t turn water into wine. Then there were the organisers and leaders of West Indian cricket. Why did our team go into the World Cup without a fielding or bowling coach, two areas in which we are demonstrably weak? Were they so caught up trying to accommodate all those tourists that were supposed to be running wild throughout the region that they never remembered there was something called West Indian cricket?

This World Cup would be remembered but not for the reasons we were hoping. What is ironic about all of this too was the death of Woolmer the Pakistan Coach in a situation where security was supposed to be top class and at the highest level. In fairness to them security would never cover every eventuality but in a hotel with security cameras and security personnel they seem to be no where near to identifying suspects. The security arrangements might have been top class but I am of the view that it was grossly overblown which was partly responsible for some of the restrictions placed at the cricket venues. We are told that the region spent in excess of US$750 million. This was to have involved investment in new playing fields, other infrastructure and tourist promotion. The World Cup in any event was to be a cash cow so the huge investment didn’t really seem to matter. The stands might be full for the semi-finals and finals. The restrictions imposed on the way Caribbean people enjoy their cricket will be removed but it is all too late. It will take a miracle to reverse the image that has already been built around the World Cup. The Caribbean’s proudest moment is turning into one of despair.