Club official takes swipe at SVGNA’s operations  
Sports
August 17, 2018

Club official takes swipe at SVGNA’s operations  

Head of the X-Ceed Sports Club Godfrey Harry has expressed dissatisfaction in the operations of some aspects of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Netball Association (SVGNA).

Sharing some of his concerns with SEARCHLIGHT, Harry was critical of some of the adjudications in the 2018 FLOW National netball club tournament.

“I wish to challenge the outcome and the way in which the scoring for the shooting competition and judging for the 2018 awards were done,” Harry stated.

Harry said the shooting competition was administered by members of one club, and he had “some reservation on the final result.”

A former president of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Netball Association, Harry argued that the process should have been carried with two scorers instead of one and by persons less closely connected to clubs/ teams if it could be avoided.

Harry has also questioned some of the judged awards.

“I also want to challenge the awards for the junior division of the 2018 championships…. It seems like only Maple players can get …[junior centre court and defender]… Also a senior player who played most of her games as a mid-court player ended up with the award for the best defending player,” Harry complained.

“I am certain that there are better or other players with equal ability that should have been given these awards,” Harry added.

As a consequence, Harry has called for a committee be put in place prior to the tournament, to oversee the selection and nominations of awardees.

Harry’s lamentations also looked at the state of umpiring in the 2018 tournament, which he deemed, “was at its all-time low and leaves much to be desired.”

“…This needs to be addressed with some measure of seriousness… We are still using umpires who are not updating themselves with the present rule changes and umpires’ protocol,” Harry related.

As a means of addressing the area of umpiring, he called on the SVGNA’s executive in the planning,” to look at the incentive offered to umpires.”

Harry suggested requesting that the clubs pay the $200 for registration and umpiring fees for all teams to upgrade the payment to umpires.

It is Harry’s call that the entire tournament be reviewed, and concluded, “We need to take a closer look and make harsh decisions.”