Those local sporting absurdities – yuck

Some of the recent happenings locally, in the past week or so, in sports, are enough to make the most loyal follower puke in disgust.

We all know, and have accepted that there is never a dull moment in Vincentian day-to-day life, but the executive of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Table Tennis Association gave a laughable, but most unforgivable and moronic reason for the postponement of a national association’s general meeting.{{more}}

“The St Vincent and the Grenadines Table Tennis Association announces the postponement of its scheduled biennial or mid-term general meeting scheduled for Saturday 6 June to Saturday 13 June at 3:00 pm to avoid the clash with the major sporting event of the day the UEFA Champions League Finals,” the release from the SVGTTA read.

Sent via e-mail by the association’s president Tyrone Jack, this smacks of contempt of the intelligence of those whom the email was meant to reach.

What does the business of a UEFA champions league football final, which involved Barcelona of Spain and Juventus of Italy, played in Germany, have to do with the sport of table tennis in St Vincent and the Grenadines?

Fool ah talk, but fool nah ah listen, as the local saying goes.

The announcement by Jack, however, may be in keeping with what is taking place with his organization, as the national championships, which began in March, are yet to conclude.

The Vincentian sporting public is well aware that everything is not honky dory within the operations of the organization, so to give that lame duck excuse is absurd, to say the least.

Sharing equal space in the sin bin, is the executive of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation in its pre-handling of last Wednesday’s World Cup qualifying match with Guyana.

With knowledge of the fixture since early January, very little effort was exerted in ensuring that a hype was built and the Vincentian public was bombarded with knowledge of the match.

The cursory mentioning of the match left most persons not knowing the magnitude of the need for Vincentians to rally around the team and give the players that morale booster shot.

Then to pass off their job to the World Cup Organizing Committee is another case of ineptitude of the men and woman who configure the national body for the sport.

This is not the first time that St Vincent and the Grenadines has hosted a World Cup qualifier, neither is it for the current executive, who went through the process in 2011.

Hence, there should be no excuse for their lacklustre attempt to drum up support at the last minute.

The executive ignored the avenues to get into the psyche of Vincentians to infect everyone with the Vincy Heat fever.

Maybe they were too occupied with seeking their own self-interest, rather than putting St Vincent and the Grenadines’ chances as precedent.

Were they too concerned about trying to woo the technical staff, in having players with whom they have affinity, called in the final 20 for last Wednesday’s match?

This type of behaviour is symptomatic of the traits of this executive, so nothing should surprise us.

And, sitting in the same pew of the table tennis and football associations, is the St Vincent and the Grenadines Cricket Association. The latter’s decision to go back to so many oldsters in the women’s training squad represents nothing less than a backward move.

How can the national selectors include players who have reached the dead end of their cricket?

Some who have found favour with the selectors have not even been top performers in the local competition to even merit a call-up.

The executive of the SVGCA and the selectors were lauded in 2014, when one could have seen a move towards grooming some of the youngsters to ensure continuity.

It is ironic that the selectors should be pedalling backwards when it is known that St Vincent and the Grenadines is no longer a force to be reckoned with in the regional game, yet they are persisting with those who will never take us any further.

The Kishore Shallow led executive, despite its promise to reform the sport, has not demonstrated this in his recent move with the women’s squad.