The unifying power of sports

By Neil Kumar
IT is extremely heartening to know that President, Dr. Irfaan Ali has called on the prestigious Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to consider Guyana for cricket investment and development.

President Ali certainly has the development of sports in Guyana at his heart. The President, while on his official visit to India, expressed his strong plea for cricket development in Guyana, at the 2023 Global Investors Summit.

Geographically, Guyana is ideally situated at the top of Latin America and at the bottom of the Caribbean.

It cannot be denied that our great achievers in sport have put our country on the world map. Sir Clive Lloyd, Rohan Kanhai, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and the likes of the boxing greats like ‘Six Head’ Lewis are only a few of our country’s great achievers in sport.

Guyana can certainly be the conduit and the strong link with North America. Sport is more than a business; it is a unifying factor that brings nations together. Investments in sport will bring greater national participation and will lead to healthier lifestyles.

Sport is important to mankind from the cradle to the grave. Sport for leisure, entertainment, amateur or professional sport is also a business.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is the best example to be recognised as sport as a business. The IPL is today the most lucrative and most popular outlet for the game of cricket.

With the IPL, the world’s best cricketers – who had seldom made the kind of money earned by their counterparts in other professional sports- became millionaires. The owners of the franchises, who included major companies, Bollywood film stars and media moguls bid for the best players around the world in auctions.

This new approach to cricket was also able to expose the young Indian players to play and gain experience as they played competitively with the best players in the world.

Cricket has been a unifying force in the Caribbean since the West Indies became the fourth test – playing team in 1928. Sir Garfield Sobers is recognised as the best all-rounder to walk onto a cricket field.

While Rohan Kanhai’s stroke playing, particularly his “reverse” sweep established him as one of the most attractive batsmen; however, it is the West Indies’ lethal fast bowling in the 1970’s and 80’s that made them the premier team in world cricket.

Politicians: Many politicians from multiple political parties have held different positions in the BCCI.

It cannot be denied that it was our then President, Bharrat Jagdeo’s direct intervention that enabled Guyana to get a world-class cricket stadium. We must never forget that none of the colonial masters ever helped us to get a proper sport facility.

Today, we must give our unflinching support to President Ali as we strive as a nation for the further development of sports in our “One Guyana”.