Marriaqua MP laments vandalism of constituency’s sporting facilities

St Clair Prince, Parliamentary Representative for the constituency of Marriaqua, has again lamented the lack of appreciation for sporting facilities in the Marriaqua Valley.{{more}}

An upset Prince, speaking at the closing ceremony of the Richland Park Nine-A-Side Football Competition last Sunday at the Richland Park hard court, highlighted another instance of vandalism.

“I lament at the same time the fact that we had some beautiful lights on this court… [they] were vandalized; people mash dem up,” Prince emphasized.

As a result, last Sunday’s ceremony, which also included the presentation of awards won in the competition, was held in semi-darkness.

Prince, in his pleas for better, called for a change in thinking among his constituents.

“I hope when we do better later on, the entire community would come out against this type of behaviour… We hope this type of mentality changes, [be]cause we cannot go forward without people being responsible, being educated about taking care of themselves, their own facilities in their own interest,” the Marriaqua constituency representative projected.

The Richland Park hard court, like the adjoining playing field, was one of the projects undertaken under the Social Investment Fund (SIF), during the period 2009 to 2011.

However, while the playing field hosts football and softball cricket competitions, the hard court has never been fully commissioned because of some issues with its construction; hence, it primarily lies idle.

At the opening of the Marriaqua Area Netball Competition earlier this year, Prince revealed that the toilet facilities at the said hard court were almost non-existent, because of being wrecked by vandals.

Despite the challenges, Prince promised last Sunday to continue to use his office to not only improve on existing sporting facilities in Marriaqua, but to pursue new ones.(RT)