By Jemima Holmes
Sport Minister Charles Rason Jr, on Tuesday, refuted claims by the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) that the cricket pitch at National Stadium, Providence has been severely damaged following a football tournament held earlier this year.
Ramson, took Inews on an exclusive tour of the facility to prove that it has not been damaged and is ready for preparation for any looming cricket activities.
“I can see there is no such damage to the pitch currently and it will us just a couple of weeks for us to get the wicket ready for playing cricket,” the Minister said.
The Minister emphasized that in any case, the stadium is not the property of a single association in Guyana rather it is open to be used by any other sports association.
“And ordinarily, the wicket takes about three weeks to prepare in any event because the National Stadium wicket is not kept at a stage where you can just walk on and play,” Ramson noted, based on direction from the groundsmen at the facility.
“So, for the persons who were claiming that it was in disrepair, it is very malicious. It’s also disturbing and it shows that there is an orchestrated attempt to disparage the Ministry or to disparage football and to discourage the use of the National Stadium for the use of anything other than cricket,” the Minister posited.
Ramson reiterated that the Stadium is not the property of any single person rather it is the people of Guyana’s facility and should be respected as such.
The ‘Bounce Back Football Classic’ tournament was hosted at the National Stadium on December 29 and January 1; a collaborative effort between the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), Kashif and Shanghai Organization and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport.
However, on January 10 a missive from the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) shared a photo of the alleged damage to the pitch.
