Dear Editor,
I write on behalf of 492 cricketers from sixteen cricket clubs who are actively engaged in cricket over the past five (5) years on the East Coast Demerara. We have noticed a missive in the Guyana Times newspaper dated February 05, 2021, headlined “East Coast Cricket Board accuses East Coast Cricket Committee of impersonation”. The contents of the article stated that a press release was made by the secretary of the ECCB. Editor, please permit us to respond to that article in order to set the record straight and to outline some facts about the problems facing cricket administration on the ECD for the past ten (10) years.
Between the periods 2009-2013, cricket on the East Coast became dormant after the secret change of the ECCB constitution in 2009 to eliminate founder members of the ECCB. The Enmore Community Centre CC (ECCCC) was resuscitated in 2013 and with more than 120 members, there was a need to have them meaningfully engaged. In 2014, the ECCCC wrote the then ECCB seeking approval to manage a 35-Overs cricket competition in order to restore life into cricket on the coast. This was met with resistance and subsequent court battle amongst the ECCCC executives and persons from the ECCB. The 35- Overs competition was successfully staged nevertheless. Upon the insistence of the clubs who had resumed playing cricket in 2014, a group was formed under the name “East Demerara Cricket Association” to promote cricket. This resulted in another court battle with the ECCB which comprised of persons from non-active clubs. By virtue of an interim order from the Court, the group was barred from using the name EDCA or similar names, save as to East Coast Cricket Committee (ECCC). The organizing group continued to promote cricket from 2014 to 2020 under the name East Coast Cricket Committee (ECCC). I must emphasize that during this period the defunct ECCB was in “sleep mode” with regards to on field cricket, whilst the ECCC in collaboration with other clubs, organized and managed the following cricket competitions with the active clubs’ involvement on most occasions:
Bargain Super Market Carib Beer T/20- 2016, Bel Air Rubis U-15- 2017 to 2021, Tropical Springs U-19- 2017 to 2020, Nauth & Sons 50 Overs – 2016, Banks Premium T/20 – 2016, ECCC/Fairfield SC T/20 – 2016, Banks Beer 100 Ball Tournament – 2018 & 2019, Neville Ramotar T-20 – 2019, ECCCC Double Wicket – 2016, GCB/ECCC T/10- 2019 to 2020, SPR Enterprise 40 Overs – 2015 to 2019, etc.
From the period 2015 to 2020, East Coast produced 21 male and 16 female national players, 29 Demerara and President’s 11 players, and 2 West Indies players along with numerous Franchise players who were recognized for their performances from ECCC organized cricket played on the East Coast Demerara. (NB: The ECCB continued to be in sleep mode).
After Minister Ramson’s announcement of the restoration of the Cricket Administration Act, there was an expectation that the cricket Ombudsman would have been promptly appointed and the exercise of club verification would have commenced. Given that the actively playing cricket clubs were not given recognition by a defunct East Coast Cricket Board, sixteen of the seventeen clubs made the unified call for the holding of the ECCB elections and ratification of a new ECCB constitution which embraces all of the active clubs who have been playing cricket for the past two years. All of these clubs played their cricket under the name East Coast Cricket Committee for the past five years. Significantly, two weeks’ notice was given via the print media on February 05, 2021 and the ECCB AGM was set for 6 PM on February 19, 2021. On February 15, 2021 the High Court ruled in a court matter and strangely ordered that DCB elections be held at 11 AM on the same day that the ECCB’s AGM was scheduled. Additionally, the Court set a deadline for the submission of delegates from the various associations by February 17, 2021 being two days prior to the holding of an AGM by the East Coast Clubs. To our utter dismay, we learnt through the print media that the defunct ECCB had awoken and had submitted a list of delegates for the DCB elections. This was done without the knowledge of any of the Clubs who have been playing cricket actively for the past five years and who have called for the said ECCB AGM slated for Feb 19, 2021. It begs the question as to the legitimacy of these officials whose names were submitted as delegates from the East Coast. The DCB elections were held and four of the delegates from the defunct ECCB were elected, of which one is said to be the President. It is indeed necessary to emphasize that none of the delegates are part of any active clubs and none was nominated to represent the active clubs on the East Coast Demerara.
Notwithstanding the above, the ECCB’s AGM and elections took place as advertised and fourteen authorized active clubs’ representatives attended, one was absent and one excused. Given that 88 percent of the clubs were in attendance; a new constitution was ratified and office bearers were duly elected. Minister Ramson then set a date for the GCB elections with a very short timeline and simultaneously appointed the cricket Ombudsman. We respectfully submit that no regards were given for fixing the root cause of problems on East Coast Demerara and by extension Demerara. Our reasonable expectation was that an “on the ground verification” of the active clubs would have been done prior to the holding of the DCB and GCB elections. It is also widely known that the same situation exists on Upper Demerara. The resulting outcome now leaves the East Coast Cricket in disarray with the defunct ECCB claiming to represent clubs that are either inactive, did not sanction those officials representing them at DCB and/or not associated with any of the officials. These clubs include East Coast Police SC- who do not exist and has not played any cricket since 2004, Plaisance Cricket Club- inactive since 2016, Clonbrook SC- inactive since 2016, L.B.I CCCC- who were not invited to any ECCB meeting since 2014 and is one of the clubs that called for the AGM on Feb 19, 2021 and is a one of the sixteen clubs approving this letter, Buxton CC- due to the dysfunctional ECCB, played most of their cricket in the past five years under the East Coast Cricket Committee, Enterprise SC- due to the dysfunctional ECCB, played most of their cricket in the past five years under the East Coast Cricket Committee, Lusignan SC- played all of their cricket with the East Coast Cricket Committee for the past five years and is one of the fifteen clubs who had called for the ECCB AGM on Feb 19, 2021, Better Hope CCCC- played most of their cricket with ECCC in the last five years, but has become inactive due to internal issues and Strathavon SC- is one of the club which was duly represented at our AGM and has played all of their cricket with the ECCC for the past five years.
All of the other active clubs not stated above are fully aligned with the new ECCB and includes some who are the more established ones, namely; Enmore CCCC, Ogle CC, Fairfield CC, Mahaica SC, Young Rivals (Unity), Lusignan East SC, Industry SC, Helena SC, Beehive SC, Mahaica Cavaliers SC and Cane Grove SC. The secretary of the defunct ECCB correctly stated that the Cricket Administration Act recognizes the ECCB. Our question is who elects the ECCB? It will be asinine for him to believe that the ECCB is a body who elect themselves whilst 90 percent of the cricketers on the coast remain on the sidelines. So in summary, in excess of 492 players are not recognized by the defunct ECCB, whilst the new board recognizes all of the active clubs in the new ECCB ratified constitution. Additionally, the defunct ECCB secretary stated that the ECCB held elections in August 2020, notwithstanding that it is public knowledge that in October 2020, elections of the ECCB remain due and this was alluded to in Minister Ramson’s public pronouncement on October 10 2020 at Albion. Please see Guyana Times article dated October 11, 2020 with headline “Legitimacy is key-Sport Minister”.
Given all of the above facts, can the secretary of the defunct ECCB publicly give answers to the following:
How many of the sixteen active clubs were present at the AGM that he alluded to in August 2020?
Shouldn’t the ECCB office bearers be elected by authorized clubs’ representatives playing cricket?
Where is voting member East Coast Demerara Police Sports Club located and did they play any cricket over the past fifteen years?
Did voting member Plaisance SC play any cricket since 2016?
How do you justify inactive clubs, such as Clonbrook, Plaisance, Betterhope CC and ECD Police SC being voting members on the old ECCB constitution whilst founding members who remain active such as Enmore CCCC, Ogle CC and others are barred?
Knowing that the majority of those persons did not represent persons elected by the active clubs on the ECD who have in excess of 492 cricketers, did your team vote at the recent DCB elections in good conscience?
Lastly can you highlight the success stories if any, of competitions held by the defunct ECCB for the past 10 years and the number of clubs who participated?
Editor, we do believe that our request is very fair and simple as outlined hereunder:
That an “on the ground verification” of active clubs is required to ascertain which of the two bodies are legitimate. This should be done via the inspection of scorebooks, club registers, media publications on competitions, etc.
That a competent person (cricket Ombudsman) be tasked with the club verification and make a public pronouncement on the new and defunct ECCB based on the inclusiveness of active playing clubs.
That Minister Ramson, do all such things which can fix the problem in cricket administration on the East Coast Demerara and by extension the County Board before the new date for the GCB election is set.
In closing we hereby state that the condition of the cricket grounds at Clonbrook, Plaisance, Better Hope and Golden Grove is a true reflection of the state of affairs of the defunct ECCB over the past decade, since these are the home clubs of their executives. We have already filed with the Cricket Ombudsman, a request for the verification of clubs and a list of active clubs on the East Coast Demerara and await our attorney’s advice in relation to the DCB 2021 elections which was held with unauthorized ECCB executives.
On behalf of ECD active cricket clubs
B. Ramkelawan
