Tony BeccaTHE WORLD Cup of cricket is just around the corner and the hosts, the West Indies, must now be praying to the Almighty that everything goes well.
Up to a few days ago, the fear, as expressed by a number of people, was that the venues would not be ready in time. After the terrorist attack on London, however, the fear, the big fear, must now be more than that.
Although not one bomb exploded in Athens during last year's Summer Olympics, the fear must now include the possibility of something similar to the explosions in London happening somewhere around the West Indies immediately before or during the World Cup.
Based on their failure to qualify, the United States, the main target of terrorists, will not be involved in the tournament. England, however, is seen as a friend, a good friend and an ally of America and the England team will be here.
On top of that, the West Indies are in America's backyard, following 9-11, an attack so close to home would scare the daylights out of the Americans, and although it is not as attractive a target as the Olympic Games, with the hosts, even with the help of the ICC, possessing far less resources to prevent an attack - to defend themselves and their guests, the World Cup of cricket will be more vulnerable than Athens and must be a temptation.
Regardless of the cost, the difficulty and the almost impossibility of stopping terrorists, every effort, therefore, must be made to minimise the possibility of such an attack.
Resources or not, that, however, will not be easy and for one simple reason.
OPPORTUNITY TO
ATTRACT VISITORS
When the West Indies decided back in 1998 to bid for the tournament, the governments around the region said yes and, apart from the prestige of hosting such an event, the reason they said was because it presented a wonderful opportunity to attract visitors from around the world, because the territories stood to make a lot of money from those visitors and because it would be a great opportunity to sell the region as a tourist destination.
That was also with the hope that having seen the beauty of the islands, having experienced the hospitality of the people, they would not only return but would also spread the word, because of the possibility of making money, plenty of money, for a number of years.
Since then, the organising committee has told the world that World Cup 2007 will be the best World Cup ever. As Chris Dehring, managing director of ICC CWC 2007, has said on many occasions, it will be an experience that the hundreds of thousands of visitors to the West Indies will never forget - so much so that they will want to come back, with their friends, again and again.
With that as the goal, the plan is not only to provide the kind of entertainment, Caribbean-style, that on top of the natural beauty of the region will make the experience of our visitors unforgettable but also to make them as comfortable as possible.
The plan to make visitors to the World Cup as comfortable as possible includes what is called Sunset Legislation a one-off agreement by the governments that would see visitors cleared at the point of entry and then allowed to move freely around the region after that, and although that would certainly lessen the hassle of travelling around the islands to watch cricket, although that would certainly impress our visitors, and although there are those who say it is fool-proof, in a world filled with terrorists, it is, or can be, dangerous.
Based on what has happened in places like New York, Madrid and London, however, it is difficult if not impossible to identify terrorists or to stop them before they strike, and even without Sunset Legislation, it will be more difficult if not totally impossible for the small countries in the West Indies, for countries that understandably always open their arms to tourists in order to make them comfortable, to do so during the World Cup.
The experience of London means, however, that the West Indies must be on the alert during the World Cup in 2007 - even though, all things considered, the only thing the organisers can do is hope and pray.
