Tony Becca
LAST SATURDAY, Tym Glaser, the Sports Editor of The Gleaner, writing in his column, Final Word, commented on the Jamaica Football Federation's announcement that it needs some one billion dollars to prepare the national team for its bid to qualify for the 2010 World Cup, that it was looking to the private sector, to the people, and to the Government to provide the money, and I was happy to read what he had to say about it.
According to the Australian, to even think about spending one billion dollars on football was not only shocking, it was also obscene; and it was obscene because of the financial state of the country and the needs, some of them desperate, of the people.
According to Glaser, apart from the fact that that would mean once again denying the many other sports in this country of financial assistance as was the case in the four years leading up to the 1998 World Cup, that kind of money could go a far way in providing schools, hospitals, fire stations, houses and paved roads. It could go a far way in improving the welfare of doctors, nurses and teachers, in a country in which people are murdered by the hundreds every year, single mothers cannot feed their children or send them to school, and one in which children lined the street corners begging, it could assist in making life somewhat better for the poor, and I agree with him 100 per cent.
According to Glaser, Jamaica, unlike a rich country such as Canada which has enough money to provide for the needs of its people, cannot afford the luxury of spending anything near a billion dollars on a sport.
And, once again, as one who believes that the people's money should not be spent on allowing footballers or any other sportsmen or sportswomen the luxury of competing with the best at the international level but on providing the basics needs of the people, necessities such as food, housing, health, education, security and, of course, recreational sport in schools, youth clubs and communities, I agree with him 100 per cent.
On Tuesday, Chris Dehring, the outgoing managing director of the ICC Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007, speaking at the Jamaica Cricket Association's (JCA) awards ceremony and referring to the present state of West Indies cricket, said, however, that the governments of the region do not recognise the importance of sports, including cricket, to the region, that the region is talented, that the governments should appreciate that, and that they should spend money, the people's money, on sports.
Big business
According to Dehring, who has served West Indies cricket for 11 years, sports is big business, West Indies cricket is big business, sports in the West Indies should be commercialised and I agree with him 100 per cent and more.
Although sports, success in sports, is good for the psyche of a people, I do not agree, regardless of the talent around and the achievements of the country's sportsmen and sportswomen, with governments of poor countries taking the people's money and spending it on sports rather than on the basic needs of the people.
To me, it makes no difference, for example, to people who are hungry and are on the streets begging, to those who are ill and who are dying because of the lack of food and proper health care, to the relatives - the mothers and fathers, sons and daughters - of those who are hungry, who are ill and who are dying, and to those who live on the streets or close to it because of the lack of housing whether Jamaica, or a Jamaican, for example, win a football match, win a gold medal, or score a century.
In my opinion, it is wrong for a poor country to take up the people's money and hand it to a sports association so that a small group of people can prepare for a tournament.
The reason I agree with Dehring, however, is because, like a few others before him, he spoke about the great talent in Jamaica and in the region, because he talked about commercialisation, and more important, because he talked about turning sports into an industry.
Jamaicans in sport
If the Government of Jamaica, for example, can look at the history of Jamaica and Jamaicans in sports, if it can look at the talent in the country, if it can look at the possibility of Jamaica, like Brazil, Argentina and the African nations in football, exporting its talent around the world, if it can look at the possibility of improving its facilities so that it can host teams from many countries, if it can build a top-class hall of fame and if it can prepare and sell Jamaica as a sports destination, if it can make money through sports, some of which will go towards looking after the poor, then there is nothing wrong with spending a billion dollars on football or on any other sports.
Win, lose or draw, Jamaica, with its black, green and gold and especially so its bright, attractive gold, is a big name, a major attraction, in the world of sports and now would be as good a time as any to start the investment.
Based on the lack of vision of successive governments, however, based on a tourist industry whose members seem to be blinkered Dehring, a businessman, has supported what a few of us have been talking about for some time now, until things change in the region and especially so in this country, Glaser is right.
To spend one billion dollars on football in an effort to reach the World Cup finals, to spend so much money in a country where so many are suffering would not only be shocking: it would also be obscene.
