OPINION: The Cricket Playing Field

People playing volleyball at the Richmond Bay Recreational area in Union Island. Photo by Radio Grenadines

The views expressed herein are solely those of the writer.

By Anthony G. Stewart, PhD

Cricket, the gentleman’s game has brought joy to our hearts as West Indians all over the Caribbean and the world celebrate our latest win over Australia. Sports have a way of bringing people from various communities together. There used to be a time when cricket was played everywhere in the villages. We used balls made of sponge, flannel, compo, leather seal and sometimes any oval shaped h.

Anywhere there was an open pasture, the game was set up on weekends or on afternoons. Finding a place to play has become very challenging in some villages since owners fenced their lands and made them unavailable. There is a restriction on the official playing fields.

In Ashton Union Island, the main population center of Union Island, there is no playing field. When the new Union Island Secondary School was constructed, we hoped that sufficient lands would have been acquired to accommodate a playing field. That was not done but a small area for play was developed. We are in danger of losing it because this small playing field is earmarked to construct a woodwork center.

When the school opened in 1972, the Salt Pond had a sufficiently large and dry area that hosted games for preschools, primary and secondary schools. This area was lost because of climate change and sea level rise. Representation was made during the construction of the Ashton Marina, but we were told that these little matters would be attended to. We should have been more persistent because Ashton would have had a playing field by now.

Although descendants of Oliver William Span are developing one acre of private lands in Gardenfield, into a park, its play area will not be adequate for the kind of playing field Ashton needs. Nevertheless, Span Gardenfield Park will add to the free space and perhaps would accommodate a cricket practice net.

The impending loss of the playground at Union Island Secondary coupled with the loss of the play area of the Mary Hutchinson Primary, join in the cries of the people for a portion of the Salt Pond bordering the Ashton Marina to be

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developed into a playing field. With West Indies cricket on the upswing, we need to recapture the interest and build up cricket’s foundation.