David Rouse may just have taken a free hit at the powers that be.
Saying the Government continues to fail sports tourism by not replacing the Astroturf, the Barbados Hockey Federation president has openly petitioned for the implementation of a fund to assist with the management of all sporting organisations.
Rouse made the rather impassioned plea while opening yesterday’s 29th edition of a downscaled Barbados International Hockey Festival at Kensington Oval.
“Really and truly all national organisations need the assistance and what we find is that Government doesn’t seem to be taking sports tourism seriously, and there is a lot sports tourism offers, especially in hockey, so we know what we’re missing with the lack of the Astroturf,” reasoned Rouse.
“Where are sports on the Government’s agenda? I say it is on the back burner, and not on the fore burner but on the eight burner, so understand how much it will take to bring it to the fore.
“Skimming the surface will not benefit sports, we need to be in or out [because] without the necessary support from Government and the business community, sports tourism will just be another catch phrase that sounds great in the political sphere,” he added.
The comments, though stunning in nature, didn’t come as a real surprise considering the BHF has suffered mightily since the dilapidated Wildey Astroturf went out of use for some time now.
And as a result, local hockey has struggled to cope with cost of using the University of the West Indies’ smaller turf while the International Hockey Festival has seen a steady decline in touring teams.
“We get inquiries consistently from travel agents about the replacement of the Astroturf and unfortunately we are unable to say when it will be replaced,” explained Rouse.
“So while we hear all the hullabaloo about sending a team to the top level, Barbados still stands to benefit if it is just through the exposure of being a destination that can provide competition for other countries.
“And most persons outside of the hockey fraternity tend to see the festival as the only area of hockey that can provide benefits through sports tourism but to a large number of schools and universities come here year after year during summer vacations,” he added.
Up to last year there were reports that local hockey was on the verge of getting a new turf though, with Mexican businessman Mario Vázquez Raña expected to cover half the cost while the BHF was in negotiations with the Barbados Olympic Association (BOA) on footing the balance.
But according to Rouse, that deal fell through, as the BHF realised the cost would’ve been too high to maintain another water-based surface.
“We’ve taken a different approach now so we’ve had a number of discussions and right now the Barbados Olympic Association is the one giving the push towards getting that Astroturf,” disclosed Rouse.
“The FIH, they’re sending a technical team between this month and September to have a look at the Astroturf and see what is needed to convert it from water-based and sand-based.”
