Waking Up Sport in SVG – The Rightful Place
In an earlier Column dated Friday 18 September 2026, we addressed the very positive commitment of the Prime Minister of Belize, John Briceño, while delivering an address at the formal opening of that country’s first Sports Summit, which his government convened in the collective best interest of the nation.
In the aforementioned Column mention was made of the government’s insistence on the attendance of ministers, mayors and key policy-makres as active participants.
One of the highlights of the Prime Minister’s address was his declaration that the growing awareness of the value of physical activity and sport to the well-being of the nation’s population, has led him to publicly state that one action that is immediately required is the sharing of some of the budgetary allocation of some ministries with the ministry responsible for sport. He understood that physical activity and sport play a fundamental role in the development of the nation’s youths, positively impacts the fight against delinquency and criminal activity in a nation. That is the level of seriousness of the Prime Minister of a Caribbean country regarding the highly valued role of sport in a country.
The point that was made by the Belizean Prime Minister was not that the other ministries had suddenly become less important. It was instead that priority must be given to the people who are critical to the shaping of the nation’s future. Without mention of the CARICOM Declaration on Wellness in 2007, the Belizean Prime Minister was informing his populace that physical activity and sport underpin wellness and by extension, productivity, in any society.
Interestingly, the Belizean Prime Minister, in his official approval of the convening of the Sport Summit, displayed a level of leadership very rarely seen in the Caribbean. Unfortunately, given the nature of Caribbean politics, it is likely to go unnoticed. The reason for this possibility is the legacy of colonialism and what it has spawned amongst those who have offered themselves up as political leaders across the Caribbean. History reveals that despite the claims of Independence and the ‘intellectual’ insistence on building a ‘Caribbean Civilisation’, the most popular reality is that we remain stuck in the rut of ‘crabs in a barrel’, as the leaders, in practice, readily reflect their continued commitment to allowing physical size of country to dictate merit and status on the proverbial ‘totem pole’.
Unfortunately, it has not yet dawned upon us that as small fish in a larger global pond, integration is the only legitimate response, at once, to our viability and sustainability. We ignore this at our peril.
Our Vincentian Reality – an embarrassing example
Construction of the ‘stadium’ at Diamond
Just as we did with the conceptualisation and construction of the Argyle International Airport (AIA, so too we have done with the stadium that has been under construction over the last five, almost six, years at Diamond and which is still far from nearing completion. Both physical infrastructure projects, while touted as important to our national development, may well have been ill-conceived partisan political undertakings and the nation is paying the price for the folly.
As with the AIA, so too with what has been labelled, the Sir Vincent Beache Stadium. The project has essentially been operating like something of a ‘State Secret’. Here is a sport project that has no involvement of the national governing body for the sport.
To begin with, the government of the day placed the responsibility for the stadium at Diamond under the Ministry of Economic Planning. Of course, no one in the government appeared decidedly bothered by this anomaly. Indeed, given the general modus of that administration, no one may have had the gumption to ask any questions or challenge the decision. No one in the Ministry of Sport nor the National Sports Council nor the Stadium Committee appeared to be overly concerned, except perhaps the late Garth Saunders, who found himself so left out of what he may have thought a continuation of a process he once led. He apparently, subsequently, sought relief of any association with the project. A new Stadium Committee was supposedly appointed but it does not appear to have been functional, certainly not in respect of the facility at Diamond.
When the stadium project was under the early stages of construction, those responsible were informed that the stands were being located much too close to the runway and pits for the horizontal jumps, long and triple. Somehow, the suggestions were ignored and the facility was constructed so close that athletes participating in the events are restricted to one mode of conducting their jumps for fear of injury should they use the full remit of skills normally associated with them. It would appear that greater consideration may have been given to ideas from individuals not associated with nor knowledgeable about the requirements of track and field athletics.
During the construction of the competition arena ta Diamond, mention was made of the importance of putting in place the appropriate holes around the circle that serves both the Discus and Hammer throwing events. This advice was given because the aforementioned events require a cage from within which the athletes perform, allowing the implements to exit through a gateway onto the arc laid out on the grassed outfield. The cage serves as a protective measure for the athlete as well as for athletes and other general personnel in and around the competition arena during the two aforementioned throwing events. To this day, more than five years later, the holes have not been created and no cage procured, The result is that the Discus Throws are being performed with a ‘risk’ element that the national federation has to carefully and meticulously managed, while the Hammer Throw cannot be undertaken because the risk is much too great.
Since original construction work has begun at Diamond, the track was officially opened a few days ahead of the general elections of November 2020. Since then, work has been occurring on different parts of the project with little information being communicated to its primary users. The latter remain uncertain as to who bears the responsibility for the facility on a day-to-day basis and with whom discussions can be held regarding the workplan through to the completion of the facility.
Maintenance
From the time that the synthetic surface was laid at Diamond, it was noticeable that water was collecting at the top and bottom bends. This continued for years without being appropriately addressed. Eventually, the two bends became very discoloured, evidence of moss compilation. On the southern part of the track, even the area referred to as the ‘D’ where the high jump is done and the javelin, discus and shot are thrown, for the most part, became just as discoloured because of moss accumulation resulting from lack of acre
It is unfortunate that some time ago, in an effort to ‘clean’ the areas where moss had accumulated, it was decided to use power washing machines. The areas were cleaned, indeed, but the process also removed the granules of rubber that is integral to the track’s surface meeting international requirements. The matter speaks for itself.
There does not appear to have been a structured maintenance programme in place for the past five or more years. One understands that this may be addressed sometime soon.
It should otherwise be difficult to understand the maintenance challenges experienced at the ‘Sir Vincent Beache Stadium’ but in the aftermath of what has happened with holes on the airstrip at the AIA, nothing should surprise us.
Track Certification
On 6 March 2025, a letter as written to the governmental authorities regarding the pending expiration of the World Athletics Certification Licence for the track at Diamond. This was one year in advance of the expiration date of January 2026. The date and time came and passed. Communication has been continuous but to no avail.
Performances for 2026 would have been of no use for qualification of any major international competitions on an uncertified track.
On the 22 September 2026 REGUPOL Germany GmbH & Co. KG submitted an official application for the extension of the certificate at the Diamond facility to World Athletics. This is seven months after the expiration date of the initial licence.
Our internationally ranked athletes had to look elsewhere for opportunities to gain ranking points for major competitions because they could not have gotten same had they come home to compete at the National Championships as they had done the previous year when the track was fully certified.
We ought not to have found ourselves sin this embarrassing situation.
There is no use in pointing fingers as there is more than enough blame to go around.
We must learn lessons from our seeming intransigence and lethargy in understanding sport and its role in genuine national development.
Urgent Lessons
We are nearing the end of 2026. National federations are completing their analyses of their performance in 2026 and their calendars and budgets for 2027. All are concluding 2026, as they have been for several years prior, without any clear policy framework within which to operate. This has been the case for such a long time that many are perhaps thinking that it is now normative.
There exists in this country a strong legacy of individualism and the ‘crabs in a barrel syndrome. In many respects it is a form of debilitating cancer from which we have extreme difficulty extricating ourselves. The first objective must be to determine that this exists and strategize ways in which to defeat it.
The new administration for sport has not had a serious retreat following the changes that have been put in place following the establishment of a new national government. It is difficult for a sense of direction to be developed in any way close to what Belize has recently done without there having been a broad national commitment to physical activity and sport on the campaign trail. The state of the economy, as always, will be a convenient ‘fall-guy’ for the tardiness currently being experienced in determining the government’s position on physical activity and sport.
We need to remember that election manifestos for general elections are fanciful documents delivered so close to the date of elections that there can be little expectation that they will be read and studied in order to impact voting patterns.
At the broader national level, there has to be stronger sense of what is the status of sport that was met on ascension to government, what competencies exist, what analyses are being undertaken, including the level of training and education, not certification, of those available to engage in the appropriate administrative, technical and financial review before the policy can be established, strategic planning done and objectives clarified and pursued.
It is clear that not everything can take place at once, but the process must begin and all stakeholders must be so apprised and engaged. Failure to appropriately plan is the surest guarantee of failure.
