The euphoria that normally follows the nation’s sporting success was very much in evidence on the first three days of the 2019 IAAF World Championship in Doha, Qatar, as the sensational new long jump star Tajay Gayle and our evergreen sprint queen Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce brought joy to the nation with two well-deserved gold medals.
As is customary, many sports-loving Jamaicans, including some influential government stakeholders, were at the forefront in firing off congratulatory messages, and I rather suspect that before the euphoria wears off, we will also be hearing the usual trademark promises, which usually go unfulfilled, dominating conversations on the celebratory bandwagon.
Having watched the nation’s climb to the pinnacle of global sports over time, I can’t say that I am not happy that we are continuing to maintain our status in track and field, cricket, football, netball, and even some non-traditional sports like rugby. However, my primary concern is our continued failure to capitalise on our current success in terms of creating a platform to ensure that we remain a potent force for many years to come.
With sport being a multibillion-dollar global industry, I wish we were operating like those smart countries that are treating sport as a business. In fact, I believe we are doing a great disservice to the achievement of our great athletes when, instead of seeking to command a major slice of the economic cake, we seem satisfied in picking up the crumbs.
While our raw talent has served us well over many decades of involvement in events like the Olympic Games and the IAAF World Championships, it should be noted that outside of the medals the athletes have won and the respect Jamaica has gained as easily the most powerful small nation in sports, we basically have nothing to show in terms of setting a solid base to counter the technological advances other countries are making in their quest to prevent us from punching above our weight.
Surely, we can’t be serious about the future when, despite producing icons like the legendary Usain Bolt, Merlene Ottey, and Veronica Campbell-Brown, western Jamaica is still in the dark ages in terms of high-quality facilities to promote the development of new stars, as all the region has is the rundown all-weather synthetic track at the Catherine Hall Stadium in Montego Bay, which is currently out of use because of significant wear and tear.
Additionally, unlike in other countries where their stars are basically put on a pedestal in their hometowns, with monuments erected to immortalise their success and inspire others, western Jamaica has been ignored and abandoned. It is as if we are insulting athletes like Bolt, who, despite being arguably the greatest sportsman of all time, hasn’t got a single monument in his honour in the parish of Trelawny. Yet there is one in Kingston.
To compound that major act of disrespect, it is even more ridiculous that Montego Bay, the tourism capital, which seems tailor-made for sports tourism with some of the best hotels for world-class accommodation, fantastic weather all year round, some of the world’s best golf courses and a sports-loving population, is not home to any major regional or global sporting championships.
Interestingly, we can’t complain about not having any role models to copy in terms of countries that have monetised their sport, as our great neighbour and friend the United States of America is a perfect example, having used sports as a critical pillar in their economic development. Frankly speaking, I refuse to believe that – unless they are completely daft – our policymakers should not be doing much more to generate earnings from sports.
If Montego Bay businesswoman/journalist Janet Silvera can create an event like the Montego Bay City Run, which generated more than J$24 million this year to assist needy students in their educational pursuits, the Government, with all its well-paid technocrats, should be able to fashion a product capable of putting us in a position to benefit from the cash-rich sports tourism market.
Based on the achievements of western Jamaica stars Ottey, Bolt, Campbell-Brown, as well as the many outstanding footballers, cricketers, and boxers, there is absolutely no good reason why sporting facilities like the Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium and the Catherine Hall Stadium are fast becoming white elephants because of limited use.
In fact, our failure to develop meaningful, viable sports projects will destroy the legacy of much-loved stars like the legendary cricket umpire Steve Bucknor, top-flight footballers Paul ‘Tegat’ Davis, Durrant Brown, Warren Barrett and Theodore Whitmore. Their iconic accomplishments, alongside those of our athletes, will fade away if we do not start the rescue mission now.
