By Miranda La Rose
The Guyana National Stadium at Providence, East Bank Demerara is yet to attract a crowd of any magnitude in the current test match between West Indies and Sri Lanka.
Attendance can be describ-ed simply as “poor” and the absence of coverage of the event by the electronic media also took away from the excitement of the game. The poor attendance raises ongoing questions about the future use of the stadium and the need for a well thought out programme for it.
General Manager of the National Communications Network, Martin Goolsarran, told Stabroek News that the reason why there was no radio coverage and will be none for this triangular series was because of the prohibitive costs. He said the cost of the broadcast licence was US$26,000 and the outlay for television broadcast was also very substantial.
NCN, he said, opted to forego the radio broadcast in favour of the television broadcast for the matches that would be played outside Guyana. For the home series, there is a television blackout, but NCN radio and television were giving scores throughout the day.
He said NCN tried to obtain broadcasting rights for the home series but because the licence was sold as part of a package for the whole series, it was not possible.
Asked whether Guyanese in other parts of the country, where television was not readily available but battery-powered radio was, should not be considered, Goolsarran said NCN was aware of the concerns but a choice had to be made.
He said Guyana was not unique in taking these decisions since Dominica, too, was not obtaining the cricket commentary via either medium.
The local advertising market, he said, was not responsive to sponsorship of the series. “We tested the market and the response was very poor,” he said adding that NCN was still looking for sponsorship to cover the television broadcast which it has bought.
Persons who follow the game by radio and who were at the ground said the cricket was not as exciting as the description by the commentators add to the game. One said that even if he missed exciting stroke play, the commentator would recall what took place. Radio commentary has been an integral part of the cricket experience here for decades. This is probably the first time in over four decades that cricket is not being broadcast on radio, one cricket vendor said, while asking which Sri Lankan was the second wicket to fall yesterday.
Apart from the game not being broadcast, there was no big screen to see the replays either. Two secondary school students on the grass mound bemoaned this yesterday. There was a big screen during Cricket World Cup 2007, but Stabroek News understands that it was on loan to Guyana for that event only. One of the two students also did not see how the second Sri Lankan player, Kumar Sangakkara, was out and he could not see the replay.
The students felt that if cricket was being broadcast, there might have even been a greater number of spectators at the match.
‘Very, very poor’
Meanwhile gatekeepers, volunteers, spectators, vendors and even the security and medical personnel said the attendance was “very, very poor”. As a result, the organisers said the prices for tickets at the booths today, the last day of the match, would be $500 for entry to the party stand/grass mound; $1,500 to any of the stands; and children under 12 years of age free. Yesterday tickets were being sold at the booths at $3,000 for two persons for entry to any of the stands and $1,000 for two in the party stand/grass mounds; the only difference with today’s prices being that tickets could be bought singly.
The extended Bridgelall family, who travelled from West Berbice for yesterday’s play, sat comfortably under a tarpaulin with their picnic lunch in the party stand. One of the male members said the family members were pleasantly surprised that the prices for the tickets allowed two persons each. However, he said they were disappointed that there were so few people at the match.
Though no numbers were available, one ticket staffer said she believed Easter Monday sales were the best, though ticket sales were less than half of what was anticipated for the day.
Another ticket staffer said the best sales were for the south/west stand but sales in that area were also less than half. As usual, people in the stands huddled at the top of the stands trying to escape the sun, while all the seats in the lower part of the stands remained empty giving the impression that no spectators were present. The stadium can sit around 14,800 and paid attendance was thought to have averaged less than half of that.
An unpleasant feature was the touts who were trying to lure persons to buy tickets from them just a few feet away from the booths.
Asked about this development, Stadium Director, Anthony Xavier, said the Guyana Cricket Board was manning the booths, but touting was not allowed and it was an issue that would have to be looked into.
Inside the ground, this reporter and other spectators were invited to sit in any of the stands at their leisure, since spectators were so few.
Not well advertised
One volunteer – and there were many wearing Digicel and Pepsi colours – said the common complaint was that the test match was not property advertised. Identifying himself as Adams, he said that one of his friends called him on his cell phone to get him to do some work for him. Adams said that when he told him that he was at Providence doing some work for the test match between the West Indies and Sri Lanka, his friend expressed surprise that “test cricket had come to Guyana.”
A security officer also felt that the match was not properly advertised and the distance from Georgetown, he added, might have been a factor that influenced poor spectator turnout as well.
One vendor actually suggested that test cricket be taken back to Bourda in Georgetown to whip up some support for the game.
Two security personnel, who did not want to be identified and who were present from the start of the match on Saturday, told this newspaper that in addition to cutting the cost to attract spectators, they relaxed security measures, which were put in place for CWC 2007 last March.
The security personnel said that last year with the exception of President Bharrat Jagdeo and his security, all others including government ministers were subjected to searches. A minister attending the current test match objected to being searched and left rather than be searched. It was after this incident that the security measures were relaxed a bit, the officers said. However, this newspaper observed that security officers still searched persons’ bags.
Also very noticeable was the fact that vendors were taking food ordered into the stands, a feature that was not permitted during the CWC 2007. As a result, some sanitary cups and Styrofoam food boxes were strewn about in a few places around the concourse.
At one stand on the concourse where food and drinks were being sold, a female sat cross-legged on the counter.
Xavier told Stabroek News that many of the restrictions that were in place for CWC 2007 had been relaxed to allow for the test match. He noted that the CWC 2007 was run by the International Cricket Council but the current test series is being administered by the West Indies Cricket Board in conjunction with the Guyana Cricket Board.
People are allowed to take their own food into the ground, he said and they are being asked to observe basic sanitary practices, as some would do otherwise. However, he said the WICB/GCB has contracted a cleaning entity to clean up after every day’s play and vendors renting spaces are required to do the same.
Xavier said he was 92 per cent satisfied with the performance of his ground staff and the behaviour on the ground, but very disappointed that someone had stolen the West Indies flag off the flagstaff. Two flex hoses were also stolen from under two sinks in a washroom.
The stadium director said his staff was working very hard to maintain the standard of the stadium.
