How much did Government contribute?

Our ‘Vincy Heat’ football team is doing us proud on de Road to Rush-her. Kodos foh all, especially head coach Cornie Huggins, ah born and bread Murray Village star. Cornie comes from ah house of sporting talent, his mom was a national Netballer and his dad Fred Trimmingham represented SVG in cricket and football, he was also coach of de SVG team. Team SVG is now in de next Round dat includes de My-tea USA. Let us go forth using de inspiring slogan coined by USA president Obama: “Yes we Can!” Lie-Za say “Yes We Can” because we already ahead ah de USA on de world rankings for Crime and Rape, she wanted to include Lie but ah shut her up, Bill Clinton gets de Awe-ward foh Lie-in-bed! She got de nerve to ask me on de scale of one to 10, where is our PM.

On ah more see-rust note, we are no match foh de USA. Bert Francois reminds us dat de well-tea “Team USA,” in addition to having some ah de best coaches and trainers, will be accompanied by a staff of doctors, physiotherapists, nutritionists, psychologist and what have yuh. Ah asking me-self what do we have apart from ah set ah infighting among de Football executives, head threatening to tek de belly to Courts. And dat is only de off de field of play part.

Ah went to look at de SVG vs Aruba match last Fry-dey at Arnos Vale. Team SVG or Vincy Heat won, in my limited knowledge, Aruba was not as fit as SVG, but played better football. Football is still ah game that is played wid de body (foot) as well as de head, dey wuk to-get-her! If inside de head is clear and de body is fit and able, den great things will happen. Don’t expect much from ah player who is fit and skilled but nothing upstairs; similarly de head could be running over wid I-daze but if de body not in shape, don’t expect much either.

Team SVG did not impress me as ah team of players that could have gone into extra time, half hour more. In fact de rules change now, Soccer/Football is now like Netball and Bsketball, dey have time-out every fifteen minutes.

Ley me ask ah few questions. Do our lads get paid, is de pay enough to buy foods and supplements rich in protein and vitamins? What about sleep and rest, who takes care of dat? Which brings us to de very important if not de most important topic, Discipline! We can have de very best players but widout Discipline, everything will soon fall apart. Now how can we make demands or impose rules to enforce Discipline, when yuh have ah team of under-fed, under-nourished and worst of all under-paid players and officials.

Vincy Heat plays de USA in two months time and de least we can do at dis stage, is to put the entire squad in ah Camp. Feed dem! Train dem! Rest dem! Relax dem while dey watch top players on film. And ah begging again, pay dem! So ah calling on de most Progressive Go-venom-mint to tek shame out ah dey face and pump some elect-shun money into Team SVG even at dis late stage. So come November when Team USA visit and de Prime Minister and de Sport Minister mek de pull-it-tek-all departure speech, we want to hear how much money de Go-venom-mint contributed in de preparation of Team SVG.

De upgraded Swimming Facility was opened last week, and ah does ask me-self when will Minister Ces Mc Kie tek off his Ole Mas costume and stop Sports-in. It was painful listening to him speaking at de reopening about how much millions de Go-venom-mint has voted towards sporting facilities. But he was decidedly silent on how much money de ministry contributed to refurbish de Swimming facility, nothing! Lie-Za was dey and she asked and asked until somebody told her “Not ah Red Cent!” In fact is de Lotto dat does bail out de Association when dey have to attend meetings. During Cato’s rain, dat Lotto was created by de Carnival Development Committee to assist in de development of Culture and Sports. We hearing how de administration does bully de Lotto Board to pay monies foh things other dan de designated policy just foh pull-it-tek-all mileage.

Let me congratulate de SVG Swimming Association led by one Stephen Joke-him and ah team ah honest, committed, non-power hungry citizens, foh de one-dah-full job dat dis Body has done, and continues to do foh our youths. De name of SVG is present way-ever dey is ah swimming competition , could be in ah bath-tub ah water, our kids participating and winning medals. Yes members belong to de Booge-war class, but young swimmers from de poorest of de poor in Rose Place, Bottom Town are trained at de facility which is now up to international standard..

Dis is how we tackle Crime. on all fronts, provide de youths wid training, jobs, sporting and cultural facilities, and dey will do de rest. De ULP Go-venem-mint has been such ah big disappointment, ah will leave dem to Margaret London who wid Frank Da Silva’s recordings are de two best thing dat ever happen to NDP. All yuh figure dat one out. And wid dat, is gone ah gone again!

One Love Bassy

Bassy Alexander is a land surveyor, folklorist and social commentator.