Community-based sports particularly cricket might just be the missing antidote to solve some of the societal problems in Barbados, says legendary West Indies opener the Most Honourable Desmond Haynes.
A strong advocate for community-based sports, Haynes said that this needs to be the approach if some of the country’s social problems are to be solved and persons, especially young people, are to be brought closer together.
“What I feel very strongly about and I have always preached this is that it is still very important for us to have community-based sports and cricket should lead. I think that when you have cricket in the community it brings everybody together, people get to know each other and people start making a living from selling fish cakes and drinks, and other things,” Haynes told Barbados TODAY.
Haynes who represented Barbados and West Indies between 1976 and 1995 where he shared the top order with fellow legendary opener Sir Gordon Greenidge, stated that instead of taking the game and competitions back into the communities, the preference was now Kensington Oval and bigger, well-known grounds.
“As soon as people have a competition, they want to take it to Kensington Oval, take it to the Stadium, take it to UWI (University of the West Indies), out of the community. When you look back at it, I am not too sure if that is the right thing,” he said.
Haynes added: “We need to have a serious look at sports and especially cricket. When you look at what cricket has contributed to the economy here in Barbados and who we have produced in the past, there is no reason why we should not try to put all of our efforts into ensuring cricket remains our number one sport.
“As we can see in the situation of the IPL and various franchises around the world, people could make a decent living and they don’t even have to play for West Indies or Barbados. There is a lot that we seriously have to look at,” Haynes expressed.
morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb
