Novice asks for apology from TBPO cricket organizers

The former winners of the National Lotteries Authority Top Belair progressive organization’s Softball Competition are calling on organizers for an apology for allegedly being unceremoniously “booted out” of this year’s competition.{{more}}

At the finals of the competition held at the Dauphine Playing Field on December 19, some members of Novice staged a protest to vent their feelings.

Using placards, Novice asked for justice and an apology.

“We deserve a humble apology… You deny us a chance to be tournament holders…. The players are hurt… The media is left with the wrong thoughts… Please clear the air, come clean and tell them is your fault.”

Novice is claiming that they were not duly informed of their quarter-final meeting against Gairy Construction Simple Boys, which was set for December 5; hence they lost by default.

“They have contact numbers for us…. They are the defaulters, not NOVICE…. Tell us what we did wrong T.B.P.O,” another of the protest placards read.

Novice is also charging that at a meeting on December 10, they were given the assurance that they would be contacted by the organizers.

One of the organizers of the competition, Wendell Glasgow, related to SEARCHLIGHT that on Friday, December 11, Novice’s captain Elton Williams was told of the decision that the initial default result stood.

In relation to Novice’s complaint that they were not informed of the quarter-finals, Glasgow said that the teams were told that at the latter juncture of the play-offs, because of his involvement in other matters, they were required to go to the competition’s Facebook page to get information on the fixtures.

Glasgow added that the fixtures were also made public by way of several local members of the electronic media.

He concluded that it was no fault of the organizers; hence, the apology being sought by Novice would not be forthcoming.

The semi-finals of the competition featured Simple Boys versus Stingers and Richmond Hill United against Nice Radio Clinchers.

Simple Boys went on to win the title for the third successive year, beating Nice Radio Clinchers by 112 runs.

At the closing ceremony, chair of the organizing committee of the competition Ashford Wood mentioned that they had to take a tough decision. Among the decisions that were taken were the suspensions of Simple Boys’ Casmond Walters and Deptor Culzac of Richmond Hill, both for acts of dissent.(RT)