This interesting article is reproduced from Dr. Malcom Grant’s Facebook Page. The frustration of a West Indian cricket fan is clearly evident – Barbados Underground
How many more?
How many more defeats are West Indian fans expected to swallow? I am absolutely fed up with those who asks us to “be patient”, those who say “the boys need your support more than ever now”, or for that matter those who pontificate and state, “it can only get better from here”. I am exasperated, my patience is worn thin, I am fuming and I desperately want heads to roll.
We the loyal fans of West Indies cricket have had enough. In our respective careers all of us are expected to be fully accountable for our actions or lack thereof and our West Indies cricket team and its cricketers are no exception to this rule. Who is accountable or for that matter where is the accountability?
With the declining performance of West Indies cricket we can realistically:
- Alienate its fair weather supporters: With less than 6 million people living in the Anglophone Caribbean the number of people who are die-hard supporters of West Indies cricket are relatively few, so few that I do not believe that they are capable by themselves of single handedly financially supporting West Indies cricket. The fact of the matter is that West Indies needs its fair weather friends to help make West Indies cricket financially viable. And may I add that even with such support West Indies cricket, as an entity, has a difficult time making ends meet.
- Kill advertising interest: No one backs a looser. And the traditional corporate supporters of West Indies cricket, Cable and Wireless, Scotia Bank, Carib Beer, etc. are no longer going to see West Indies cricket as a way of reaching the West Indian audience; with this in mind don’t be surprised that even if West Indies cricket were still able to attract sponsorship they, West Indies cricket, would no longer be able to command the premium, re advertising dollars, that they were capable of demanding in the not so distant past.
- Kill television coverage: Without sponsorship, it becomes more difficult for local television stations, in the respective territories, to offer live cricket to their viewing audience. Without life cricket there will inevitably be a further fall-off in the interest in West Indies cricket.
- Kill the businesses of seasonal businessmen/ businesswomen: A number of vendors make up to 20% of their annual income from stalls that they set up around the grounds whenever there is international cricket. Additionally the presence of these vendors adds to the bustling and colourful atmosphere that has come to be associated with West Indies cricket. With the average test match failing to go beyond the 4th day it is becoming increasingly challenging for the vendors to continue offering their appropriate services.
- Dry up our recruitment drive: In order for West Indies cricket to survive it needs to continue to attract the youth of the region to game. Unfortunately no West Indian youth under the age of 17 is capable of recalling a single West Indies team that is capable of knocking over any top class competition. The recent performances of the West Indies cricket team is likely to undermine the self-belief of any youngster who is aspiring to a place on the senior West Indies team. The consequence of such can be catastrophic to the future of West Indies cricket.
- Reduced revenues from overseas tours: With the West Indies team at last rung, relative to the established teams, in world cricket we can no longer the attraction that we once used to be. Consequentially other international cricket boards are only offering us truncated tests itineraries, a situation that was certainly unheard of up to 5 years ago.
- Increased financial pressure on the respective local and regional cricket boards: With all of the above West Indian cricket boards, inclusive of all the territorial boards and the WICB, are going to come under increasing financial pressure when it come to meeting their recurrent and capital expenditure.
No one should be beyond reproach, all the those who have stepped up to the plate re West Indies cricket MUST accept responsibility for the sad state of affairs of West Indies cricket.
Unfortunately far too many of our cricket fans have a groupie mentality and are incapable of one iota of objectivity when it comes to “their boy(s)”. Hence, they often scream and shout from their respective bully pulpits whenever someone may call for head of their “favorite son(s) of the soil”. Some of these fanatics must bear some of the responsibility for bringing to bear their influence, in one form or fashion, on the movers and shakers within the corridors of West Indies cricket who have maintained the status quo..
It certainly goes against the grain of a sound business or for that matter administrative principle to keep a team in place whose productivity is way below par.
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