A village affair at the Grove Community Centre ground on Sunday turned into tragedy, when an iron goalpost fell on the neck of a six-year-old boy killing him instantly.
Dead is Ronald Kiernon of 245 Grove Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara. Two other children were trapped in the net when the entire goal came crashing to the ground but they escaped unhurt.
Reports are that a barbecue was being held at the ground and around 1 pm, a group of children was seen swinging on the top bar of the goal at the southern end of the ground. The entire thing then fell.
Kiernon’s neck was trapped under the bar while two children were caught in the net.
He was picked up and rushed to the Diamond Diagnostic Centre where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Stabroek News understands that the children were earlier chased off the goal at the opposite end of the ground.
Some residents blamed the incident on negligence of those tasked with the upkeep of the ground, while others said that it was carelessness on the part of the children and their disobedience.
When Stabroek News visited the community yesterday many did not know about the incident and the ground was packed with kite flyers and playing children.
At Kiernon’s home, his uncle Cliffton told Stabroek News, sorrow evident in his voice, that it was negligence that caused his nephew’s death.
He explained that the goalposts were not cast into the ground but rather were “just stuck down.
They had a hundred and one people deh and they saw de set of children swinging on de thing and know it is dangerous and nobody told them to come down,” he said, shaking his head before adding that the children were swinging on the top bar of the goal, according to what he was told.
He said that his nephew’s neck was pinned under the bar and he died instantly. Describing the incident as unfortunate, Cliffton said the goals at the ground have been as they are at present (not permanently fixed into the ground) for years now.
The distraught man said that following the tragedy, a welder in the area told him that he had volunteered to fix the goals but nothing came out of it. The welder, Cliffton said, had warned of the structures’ danger to the children of the community but no one paid any attention.
“De man said that it gon kill somebody children and so said so done,” he said adding that the welder claimed he had spoken to Clive Matthews, the president of the Grove Hi Tech Football Club about the situation.
However, when this newspaper contacted Matthews, he said the goals are moved whenever the ground has to be weeded and because a tractor is used for the weeding, they cannot be placed permanently into the ground.
The ground falls under the responsibility of the local authority.
However, yesterday residents were high in praise of Matthews who usually paid for the weeding from his own pocket. They said Matthews was contributing a lot towards football in the area.
Matthews said part of the horizontal support of the goal the children were swinging on had broken off and money was needed in order for it to be fixed.
He said that although a piece had broken off the structure would still have been firm. He dismissed the suggestions by this newspaper that the goal could easily have tilted on its own.
He said the structure was so heavy it usually took about six men to move it, adding that the side that had the support broken off was stuck into the ground. However, if several children were swinging on the bar it could have tilted, Matthews said.
When Stabroek News visited the ground, the goal was lying on the ground and several children were sitting on the other set of horizontal supports. This newspaper observed that these too were broken.
Matthews said that they were not like that before. He said that know both sets of supports will have to be fixed.
While agreeing that the incident was unfortunate, he said that it was caused by carelessness.
The man said that at the time of the mishap he was asleep but was told that the children had been swinging on the other goal and were chased off.
Meanwhile, asked why Kiernon was at the ground without any adult supervision, Cliffton said the child would usually visit the ground every day, just like all the other children in the community. He said the event on Sunday was an open one.
Cliffton described his nephew as a loving child who was liked by everyone in the neighbourhood. He said that Kiernon, who was a pupil of the Grove Primary School, loved to run.
The child also leaves to mourn his parents Lloyd and Sharmaine and six siblings.
