Sport and the Economy

Sport and the economy

The matter of sport and the national economy has been one of our major discussion points over the years of contributing to this Column. Unfortunately, much of what is written appears to have little impact beyond the odd mention on the election campaign trail or the occasional ministerial presentation.

Clearly, it remains questionable whether the government of the day understands the immeasurable value of sport to the crafting of a sustainable national economy.

Backdrop

Sport has been one of the important pillars of Vincentian society.

We feel a great sense of pride when our athletes and administrators achieve at the regional and international levels.

Our champions at the aforementioned levels are often met at the airport and treated as budding heroes and heroines only to find themselves later on as veritable beggars for assistance to train and compete at the elite level.

When Vera-Ann Brereton was leading the Tourism Department, she has publicly declared her understanding of the important role that sport played in national development with its contribution to the economy. Her international exposure and experiences would have enabled her to arrive at this position. She, therefore, proposed a timeline for the establishment of a position of Sport Tourism Officer and the subsequent operation of a sports tourism department within the Ministry responsible for Tourism.

Once the government changed in 2001, the matter of sport tourism appeared to have become something of a plaything in government circles.

As Minister of Tourism, Rene Baptiste spoke of the importance of sport to St Vincent and the Grenadines. We were treated to yet another visit to this country by Teofilo Stevenson, renowned Cuban and Olympic boxing champion, who possesses some Vincentian heritage out of Biabou.

Edinboro was to be once more established as the Vincentian Mecca of the sport of Boxing.

For nearly ten years now the local boxing association has in its possession a ring and equipment but nowhere to locate them to facilitate training and hence develop the sport in the nation.

Act #9 of 1988 established the National Sports Council (NSC) of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Part II Section 5 subsection (b) reads that one of the functions of the NSC is “to develop, maintain and manage porting facilities, including all playing fields and/or stadiums (other than Victoria Park) provided by the Government for public use”. However, despite their best efforts, the administrators of the sport of boxing have been unable to convince the NSC and the government, more generally, that their sport is worthy of a place to facilitate training and by extension, development.

The reality is that boxing is not the only sport without a facility with which to engage adherents in training and preparation or competition.

Over the years many sporting organisations have hosted local, regional and international competitions, even with limited facilities and numerous other challenges. The information in respect of participation and income generated has really never been closely examined by an administration that professes to have an interest in the sports industry.

Cricket

The emphasis had initially been so much on cricket that there was not enough foresight and planning to effectively forge an appropriate policy framework and accompanying programmes.

The large crowds in attendance led to talk of sport tourism. Additionally, it also led us to fall prey to a false narrative that saw the government invest $52+m in preparing for and hosting some ‘goat cook’ matches on the eve of the Cricket World Cup 2007 (CWC2007).

We were promised that this was the start of a new initiative that would eventually see cricket teams coming to St Vincent and the Grenadines to conduct their out-of-season training.

Today, 14 years later, the sport tourism potential boasted of leading up to CWC2007 has left a legacy of double-decker stands where the toilets have not worked since the very first match, a clock on the Players’ Pavilion with no hands, a sewer treatment operation in need of extensive repairs, and extensive rusting of all of the steel structures and galvanised roofing, to name a few.

We are yet to receive a single foreign team coming here to train.

Sport Tourism Potential

One is hesitant to speak about the potential in any sphere of Vincentian life since critics have cautioned that this seems to hackney given the absence of any major motivation to go beyond the mere mention of the concept.

Suffice it to state, however, that we have had examples of the potential.

Swimming has hosted the OECS Swimming Championships with attendance from overseas, inclusive of parents, that filled most of our hotels and guesthouses over a long weekend.

Despite the limitations of our Squash facility, we have been able to host regional events.

Tennis has played host to regional competitions as well with relatively good attendance.

Cycling and athletics have hosted numerous regional and international events as also have netball and gymnastics.

Football has immense potential given its popularity across all age groups.

Alas, cricket has declined in popularity to such an extent that even at the regional level patrons are decidedly absent.

The Easter Regatta caters for a significantly important sector and has not been adequately packaged and addressed by local authorities to access the immense revenues associated with such an event. The same holds for similar events in Union Island.

We have recently been informed of the hotel building that is already in progress, albeit with a few setbacks. Should these hotels materialise the accommodation capacity of the country will be significantly boosted and so feature in encouraging national sports associations to liaise with governmental authorities to consider bidding to host regional and international sports events.

Investments

Sport remains one of the fastest-growing industries in the international economy. We are missing out in a very serious way due to the absence of a proper sport structure.

It is not possible to develop a sports programme without physical education being compulsory throughout the nation’s education system. This is an essential investment.

It is also important to note that the positive values attendant to sport can and ought to be part of all aspects of teaching and learning in the education system.

There is also an urgent need to engage national sports associations in the process of developing a sports master plan that is integrated into the national economic development strategy through sports tourism. Here again, this is a critical area of investment.

A national sports master plan would enable us to put in place the policy, programmes and infrastructure that would elevate us to significantly higher levels of development.

A Barbados Nation article by Sherrylyn Clarke dates 2 April 2021 informs of comments made by that country’s Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment, Dwight Sutherland, indicating that the “Government is developing policies to make sports a key pillar of the Barbados economy”.

There will be a new sports policy that would yield a Sports Development Act that includes a new

framework for funding elite athletes.

The Minister declared with conviction, “that no individual would have to choose between a career in sports and academics, we have merged the two because we saw and we see the value in having our young people engage in sports, not only for recreational reasons but as a career choice”.

“Based on that, sports has to take its rightful place in this country as being one of the key economic pillars in terms of developing Barbados and creating some young millionaires that the Prime Minister often speaks about,” he said.

We are already well aware of the strides made by Barbados in respect of sports tourism and its benefits to that country’s economy. There is an entire annual publication, Sporting Barbados, that details to the international community the full slate of sporting activities hosted in the country. There is no shortage of sporting events, from the numerous regattas to horse racing, golf tournaments of all sorts, polo, and Run Barbados, to name a few.

Despite all of the progress made, Barbados, Jamaica and The Bahamas have still not done more than scratch the surface in the crafting of sound sport tourism policies.

We often boast of the investments being made by this country’s government in areas of national development. However, no real attention has been given to facilitating sport in the mix. There is mere tokenism.

It is not possible to construct a sports development strategy and master plan with only politicians and party loyalists sitting around the table. The relevant sports authorities must be involved, and these come from the national sports associations.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been consistent spent by the National Olympic Committee, international, continental and national sports associations, in educating and training sports personnel but their expertise is often disrespected and/or disregarded.

Funding of sport is not an area of major concern to the government, and this is evidence by the seeming unwillingness to have national sports associations sit with the National Lotteries Authority and the National Sports Council to establish a national sports master development plan, complete with appropriate funding.

We remain one of the few countries where the government makes absolutely no financial contribution to the training of athletes who are either approaching or already attained elite status, yet we expect them to do well on the international scene.

The time has come for a comprehensive of the way we approach sport in this country and that change can only begin with meaningful, open discussions about sport and the national development strategy. Only then can we forge critical development imperatives that locate sport in its proper place.

Sport has the capacity to significantly contribute to the sustainable development of St Vincent and the Grenadines