The professional life of elite sportsmen and women is relatively short.
Depending on the particular sport and the demands on the body, that timeframe could be 10 to 15 years with a few added on or subtracted, given human circumstances that might obtain during one’s career. Debilitating injury is the bane of all sports professionals and thus making the best of all opportunities in good, healthy times is paramount.
The jury might still be out on global Twenty20 franchise cricket and its tendency to encourage a mercenary attitude among top cricketers where the lure of life-changing wealth overwhelms considerations of commitment solely to national duty. It is a balancing act that taking into consideration how careers can be ended before they are properly started, one can appreciate when regional cricketers put their personal financial security before all else.
The case of the supremely gifted Shaquana Quintyne is as heartbreaking a sporting saga as has been seen in the Caribbean in recent times. Identified as a special talent from early, Quintyne was selected to the West Indies team at the tender age of 15.
It was an age where she would have needed permission from adults to travel, she would have been restricted from watching particular movies in cinemas, disallowed from purchasing alcohol, required to do chores at her home, and perhaps even subject to detentions at secondary school. The point is, here was a precocious teenager, brimming with promise, and being called upon to represent millions of West Indians at home and abroad while pursuing a sport she loved.
And, in an era where women are also playing Twenty20 franchise cricket and earning big bucks, Quintyne had the batting, bowling and fielding skills to join the ranks of Deandra Dottin, Stafanie Taylor and Hayley Matthews in not only earning as an international cricketer but also showcasing her talent on the lucrative franchise circuit.
But at the age of 20, just five years after making her debut, Quintyne’s cricket career came crashing down following an injury to her right knee while on official duty in Antigua in 2017. Much has been said and written about what transpired subsequently, with Quintyne accusing Cricket West Indies (CWI) of abandoning her and the regional cricket governing body outlining what it did for Quintyne following her mishap.
However, it would seem that after initial assistance, CWI did not commit to Quintyne throughout her ordeal. Indeed, CWI did not even renew its contract with Quintyne after the injury and she was left to fend for herself.
But it got worse. And on this occasion the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) seemingly took its cue from CWI. Not only did the BCA take the position that it was a CWI matter but accusations from within suggest that it too, abandoned Quintyne.
Retired police inspector Hartley Reid has been a highly respected career lawman and also served as president of the Police Association. He has been at the forefront of fighting many cases of injustices over previous decades. As a longstanding senior member of the BCA, a decision-maker and holder of a number of important offices, he was intimately involved with the details and internal processes of the organization.
Reid, a former Barbados team manager and chairman of the BCA women’s committee, accused the organisation he served for many years of “abandoning” Quintyne.
He charged that despite his pleadings, the BCA’s hierarchy did not even meet with the young lady. Reid had this to say today. “Every month we met as a board. I would attempt to draw the members’ attention to the plight that she was in and ask that we meet with her. First and foremost, to assure her that she was our captain and that we empathise with the plight that she was in. And that we will be with her all the way. Not on one occasion did the board apart from me meet with her. So, yes, the BCA dropped the ball badly.
CWI themselves never recognised the severity because they never really enquired into what happened.”
To her credit, Quintyne did not retreat into self-pity but embarked on a programme of study and has become a certified personal trainer. Reid has insisted that after ignoring her, the BCA ought to absorb Quintyne into its employment ranks in her new professional capacity. This was his admonition.
“The BCA has a responsibility to her. And she is not begging, she is now qualified in an area that the BCA needs in physical training. And she is highly qualified in that area. All that they can do now in an attempt to make the wrong right, is to employ her with a substantial contract so that she can still be around cricket and do the things that she loves.
“The cricket-loving people in Barbados and indeed the region, they are the ones that have to put pressure on the authorities. Both Cricket West Indies and the BCA have to step up to the plate and do the honourable thing.
If you cannot recognise what you have done even in this latter stage and you still cannot attempt to rectify it, that means you have no pride. That means the term pride is no longer in Barbados’ coat of arms. There is no pride.”
We respectfully agree with Mr Reid. It is incumbent on the BCA to do the right thing.
