The Rose Hall Community Centre Cricket Club is currently faced with the prospect of an unplayable outfield after damage caused during a Chutney show and this will severely curtail its youth cricket programme.
In a statement on Facebook, the club lamented that its young cricketers were unable to practice due the countless broken bottles on the outfield. It explained that the bottles were left behind after a recently-held Chutney show and the vehicles which were allowed on the outfield had pressed the broken shards of glass into the ground.
Needless to say, this creates a dangerous situation where players on the outfield can be severely injured, it said.
As such, the club felt it pertinent to pose the following questions: who will ensure the safety of the ground for practice sessions? Who is going to do the clean-up? And when that is done, will the field ever be completely safe for the youths to be allowed to train?
The statement took pains to make it clear that it had no objection in principle to social events being held where thousands of persons can gather to enjoy themselves. It simply asked why better measures, such as plastic cups, were not put in place.
It also informed that a cessation of cricket practice could severely interfere with the club’s contribution to regional and national youth cricket. As such the club is pleading with the relevant and organisations and authorities to help get the ground restored to its original safe condition as its West Indies youth players have a training programme to complete and are now forced to find an alternate venue which quite inconvenient. Further, all of the home games now have to be played at other venues which incurs travelling expenses.
As the statement pointed out, “None of us would want to see our own kids get hurt especially in an unsafe environment.”
The Rose Hall Community Centre Cricket Club is home to some 50 youths, both male and female.
