Tony Becca - FROM THE BOUNDARY THE Second Test between the West Indies and England comes to an end at Queen's Park Oval today and although, according to them, they will not abandon Barbados and Antigua, based on what they have been saying, a number of the England fans, including members of the Barmy Army, are looking forward to the two one-day internationals scheduled for the Oval in April.
There are two reasons for that. One is that with every stand but for the lower decks of the Learie Constantine Stand and including the Trini Posse Stand by the electronic scoreboard now boasting individual seats, the Oval is comfortable. The other is that with a new double-decker stand topped with a row of boxes replacing the old Carib Beer bleachers stand, it is also attractive.
By the time the World Cup comes around in 2007, there may be more comfortable and more attractive grounds in the West Indies.
Right now, however, there is none like Queen's Park Oval and apart from Trinidadians, West Indians should be proud of it.
Certainly, as far as I am concerned and but for the so-called media centre, it is the Lord's, the MCG, the Eden Gardens and the Wanderers of the West Indies.
HOMETOWN FANS
Everything, however, has a price, and while it may not matter to visitors, while it may not matter to the organisers, it matters to hometown fans not to those who are members of the Queen's Park CC, not to those who have access to the boxes, and not to those with money to pay whatever the cost, but to those from the lower levels of the society.
For years, the Carib Beer Stand the bleachers - was filled during a Test match, and on those days when there was hardly anyone present and the rest of the Oval was as quiet as a graveyard, the Carib Beer Stand, echoing with cheers, provided the atmosphere.
For the first four days of this Test match, however, the three-in-one stand that has replaced it the KFC Stand, the RBTT Stand, the Carib Beer Stand - was almost empty, and of the few in attendance, the majority, the vast majority, were visitors.
The reason for that is not that the people have lost their love for the game. It is simply that while they could afford the 30 TT dollars (approximately five US dollars) to sit in the sun and on the concrete slabs in the bleachers, they cannot afford the 100 TT dollars that it now costs to sit in the shade and on the comfortable chairs in the new stand.
And it is the same thing with the Trini Posse Stand.
Once upon a time, it was a cheap stand where fun-loving Trinidadians gathered and enjoyed their cricket. Today, however, it is an attraction, there is music, there is dancing by skimpily-clad Carib Beer girls, and for the past four days the majority, the vast majority of the patrons were visitors.
PLACE FOR THE POOR
For many years, from the beginning of West Indies cricket, there was always a place at every cricket ground in the West Indies for the poor.
What has happened at Queen's Park Oval, however, is happening right around the West Indies.
Gradually these places are getting fewer and fewer and unless something is done about it, unless the governments around the region step in and ensure that at least a section of every cricket ground is reserved for those who cannot afford to pay big bucks, it won't be long before a cricket match, a Test match, in the West Indies will be watched only by the middle and upper class in the society and by visitors.
Cricket needs money and everyone knows that. Cricket, however, is the people's game and apart from robbing the people, poor people, of the opportunity to watch the game at the highest level, those who administer the game are running the risk of destroying it.
Why? Simply because the majority of those who play the game are poor people, and the majority of those who represent the territories and the West Indies are poor people's children.
If poor people do not get to go to the game they will lose interest and will not encourage their children to play it, if poor people cannot go to the game their children will not get to go to it, and chances are if the children do not go to it they will not get to like it much more to have heroes and to want to be like them one day.
What is equally important in a society like the West Indies, a society that has always talked about the rich minority and the poor majority, the privileged few and the disenfranchised many, is that it would be unfair, grossly unfair, if while others are relaxing and enjoying his skill, his talent, a man or a woman is robbed of the opportunity to see his or her son fulfilling a dream and representing the West Indies simply because he or she, he and she, cannot afford a ticket or two.
