Unavailability of Arnos Vale heightens need for Football home

The unavailability of the Arnos Vale Playing Field to host international Football matches for the remainder of 2023, has left the St Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation (SVGFF) moving frantically to secure alternative venues for the matches.

St Vincent and the Grenadines senior men’s Football team – Vincy Heat, was set to play Belize on November 21, while the senior women’s team – Lady Heat, was slated to entertain Barbados on December 5. These being scheduled after receiving confirmation of the venue bookings on August 22, 2023 from the National Sports Council (NSC).

However, a communique from the NSC on October 16, indicated that the country’s successful bid to host games in the 2024 T20 Cricket World Cup has prompted rehabilitation works currently taking place, which will be stepped up in the upcoming months, hence, the facility would be unable to accommodate the matches.

Vincy Heat will therefore play their fixture on the said date at the Kirani James Stadium in Grenada, whilst the women’s unit has the option of Trinidad and Tobago or Grenada.

Responding to the unforeseen venue changes and the denial of an opportunity for Vincentians to see their Football ambassadors in living colour, President of the SVGFF – Carl Dickson has reiterated the need to have a “Home for Football”.

“These latest happenings have brought into sharp focus, and a matter of urgency, our need to have a place to call home, where we can have matches played uninterrupted,” Dickson told SEARCHLIGHT on Tuesday, November 7, 2023.

Dickson thus disclosed that the process to have the SVGFF purchase land at Cane Grove, to be transformed into the planned “ Home for Football”, has been advanced.

Accordingly, phase one of the project that entails securing the property by erecting a perimeter fence, along with the laying of the football field and the lighting of the facility, should begin as early as January, 2024. Dickson revealed to SEARCHLIGHT: “On September 29, this year, while attending a FIFA Forward Finance meeting in Miami, a Certificate of Agreed Objectives (CAO) was signed by General Secretary of the SVGFF – Devron Poyer, and myself to have the first phase of project going”.

He furthered informed that phase two will involve getting the necessary amenities in, while phase three will be seating and attending structures.

Among the other proposed structures are the Futsal facility as well as Technical Centre, equipped to accommodate two teams and their officials.

Dickson, who came to office in November 2019, campaigned on delivering a Home for Football.

As part of the road map towards the realization of that need, the SVGFF was able to tap into the FIFA Forward Programme, the land for the project at Cane Grove, at a cost of EC$2.4 million.

Then, in July 2022, a high-ranking team of FIFA officials, including FIFA Regional Manager for the Caribbean – Alejandro Calvente, FIFA Regional Office Development Manager – Herve Blanchard, as well as FIFA Regional Office Project Consultant – Jordan Victoire and FIFA Infrastructure Consultant- David Rosa, paid a visit to the proposed site and held discussions with relevant government authorities.

When materialized, Dickson affirmed that the Home for Football project, will be by far the largest capital project that the SVG Football Federation would undertake.

Dickson highlighted that a Home for Football has always been a profound aspiration of persons who before him, held the post of President of the SVGFF, but he holds the enviable position of taking the process to imminence.

Meanwhile, Dickson noted that as the SVGFF is moving full steam ahead with the pursuance with the Home for Football facility, it is grateful to the Government of St Vincent and the Grenadines and its subsidiary agencies, for their unflinching support over the years.

“We look forward to this continued support as government has already pledged concessions and other benefits that would help relieve some of the bureaucracies hinged to the project”, Dickson proclaimed.

He said that whilst the current situation of not having the national teams’ matches played on home soil is regrettable, the circumstances are understandable.

“We fully understand the current situation with the use of the Arnos Vale Playing Field and the magnitude of government’s responsibilities to the World Cup Cricket hosting, albeit it affects Football and other sporting disciplines within the time frame of its unavailability”, the SVGFF President concluded.

The Arnos Vale Playing Field will host four matches in the International Cricket Council T/20 World Cup in June, 2024.