Poor behaviour by two teams in netball tournament

Dear Editor,

I was privileged to attend the Guyana Netball Association U-23 tournament on Saturday and Sunday last. My niece is a resident of the New Opportunity Corps and her mother and I utilized the chance to see her play as well as to talk with her. Editor, I was most disappointed with a number of events.

I will first address the behaviour of two particular clubs (All Stars and Imanie). Clearly it could have been seen that Imanie was the club to beat at this tournament since no other club was supporting them, regardless of whom they were playing (this I believe was quite sad). Nonetheless the remarks were ridiculous and Imanie fuelled the fire. I say this because they retaliated whenever a comment was made or even when a bad call was made. The main taunting came from their rivals All Stars, who made no secret of showing their dislike for Imanie. As I sat there amongst the spectators I heard so many negative comments from not only the players but the adults, all of whom had a problem with Imanie. Please don’t get me wrong, I heard some hideous comments from Imanie players too, who were obviously affected by the comments being hurled at them. In all this I saw one young lady from Imanie constantly reprimanding her players and none from All Stars as they continued their onslaught.

After what appeared to be Imanie’s last game, I listened to their chant as they were taking their victory lap. I had no problem with the words up until I heard, “We come to thrash you.” Now regardless of how competitive a team is, it’s unacceptable to use such words after winning. I would recommend that they do keep the chant since of course they were indeed “Mighty Mighty Imanie,” but they should please rephrase the part about ‘thrashing.’

After what appeared to be All Stars’ last game, the hurling of comments continued as Imanie chanted their team song. Editor, I cannot repeat the words that the All Stars players were saying but I would implore their representatives to have a serious heart-to-heart with the team as in my opinion they were the most indisciplined team based on their repulsive remarks.

As I stated before my main reason for attending this tournament was to see my niece play, and play she did. Congratulations to the coach for a splendid performance, but Editor, I feel for this team. This team was the victim of the worst possible umpiring I have ever seen in a match they faced with All Stars. I am not too au fait with all the rules of the game, but I do know techniques such as stepping, holding the ball longer than should be and fouls. I saw the most senior umpire who missed all those calls, blatantly overlooking these techniques as it relates to All Stars. I witnessed my niece along with her team-mates crying, and I said to the coach maybe they should not take part in any other competition since clearly they are not liked. Upon this I was told, well it’s the same problem Imanie has, so I have to conclude that when a club is good they are not liked, as I felt NOC was the next best thing to Imanie.

The most disciplined team in my view was the one in blue and yellow.

I am extremely disappointed and I do hope that the relevant authorities look into this problem, particularly the match between NOC and All Stars.

Yours faithfully,
A. Edwards