–leaving several unfinished plans for the historic Bourda Club
PRESIDENT of the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC), Jainarine ‘Don’ Singh, suffered major stroke and was admitted to a Private City Hospital last week Wednesday and died yesterday in ICU after being placed in an induced Coma. He was 56. Vice-president Graeme AlIi has taken over the reins of the Club which was established in 1884, after Singh had replaced Jonathan Yearwood as president when the GCC, held its AGM and elections last January.
No funeral or wake arrangements have been made as yet for Singh, who got the nick name in his teens and was a DJ at house parties and was called the Don.
Singh’s association with Bourda started when his dad took him to the GCC, which hosted its first Test in 1930 when West Indies beat England to record its first Test victory.
He was the captain of the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club and Vice-President of the Guyana Tennis Association.
In January, Singh outlined his plans for GCC where 30 of 33 Test matches were played in Guyana.
“Politics is about serving. I serve at the community level…I serve the constituencies of Alberttown, Queenstown, Kingstown, and Tiger Bay areas…so serving as GCC President is
just switching hats. When you go there, you are a sports administrator… It’s all about giving back and service,” he had said in January.
The awarding of the 2007 World Cup to the Caribbean and the construction of the Providence Stadium saw the end of Bourda, the oldest cricket club in the Caribbean.
With Bourda no longer hosting international matches, membership dwindled and when First-Class cricket was removed, the venue suffered a rapid decline, resulting in the
dismantling of dilapidated stands.
Singh had some ambitious plans to take GCC forward; the two main ones are installing lights and having regional cricket return to Bourda.
Under Yearwood’s presidency, full Stadium lights were acquired at a huge cost to GCC as a major investment, and Singh disclosed that his first assignment will be installing the lights.
“Our major plans include changing Bourda into a multi-sport facility with lights, and ultimately having regional cricket return to Bourda’s sward. He said emphasis will always be on cricket,”
Singh had stated.
On Saturday several entities paid the respects to the late Singh, including the GCB, GCA, the Guyana Government and Reds Perriera who called Yearwood at GCC..
