NSC manager defends decision

Manager of the National Sports Council Miles Bascombe, has deemed the council’s decision to rent the Wilf Slack Nets located at the Arnos Vale Playing Field, to host a private entertainment function as “much to so about nothing”.

There was snippets of disapproval in some quarters here in St Vincent and the Grenadines, when it was evident that a “fete” was to take place in the vicinity of the cricket nets, which are normally used for practice.

Manager of the National Sports Council Miles Bascombe

But Bascombe said that the facility was rented on the basis that the pitches would be protected.

Bascombe informed, “The nets were given to the promoter on the condition that all measures be put in place to protect the surface at the nets”.

“The idea was to erect the stage over the pitches in the nets… The area not protected by the stage was barricaded or covered with a protective plastic material,” the NSC manager said.

Bascombe said their decision was further vindicated, as following the event, “there was absolutely no damage, there was no threat of damage, and there was no possibility of any damage”.

SEARCHLIGHT understands though, that it was not the first time that an entertainment function had been held in the Wilf Slack Nets.

The Arnos Vale Netball Complex, as well as the main Arnos Vale Playing Field and the area at the back of the media centre, have been popular venues for many cultural activities.

These activities have been used as sources of funding of the NSC’s programmes, including the upkeep of the sporting facilities under its jurisdiction.

The nets facility was named after the late Wilf Slack, who was Vincentian-born, but represented England in Test cricket.

Slack also represented the Windward Islands in the early 1980s in the regional four-day cricket tournament, then known as the Shell Shield.