By Neto Baptiste
Former president of the Antigua and Barbuda Netball Association (ABNA) and a former player, Heather Bailey, has expressed concerns over the stagnation of rehabilitation work at the YMCA Sports Complex.
The facility, which houses both netball and basketball courts, is in desperate need of repairs ahead of the country’s hosting of the ECCB International Netball Series slated to shoot off on September 29. However, a recent visit to the facility revealed that although a wire fence around the netball courts has been removed and dilapidated bathroom facilities boarded shut, no actual repairs had started at the time.
“Netball is about two weeks away from the tournament to be held here in Antigua and no work at all is being done at YMCA. Are we going to be left to be embarrassed once again? The tournament is about to start on the 22nd [29] I believe and netball has had enough problems for years now and we managed. This is just not good enough and it is time for work to get started because you can’t call people at this point to tell them you can’t host the tournament,” she said.


In a recent interview with Observer media, Director of Sports Heather Samuel Daley, said the ministry of sports had been given the assurances by the ministry of works that the rehabilitation work would be completed in time for the tournament.
Bailey said that although she understands that it is the ministry of works’ responsibility to get the job done, the ministry of sports should be placing more pressure on the relevant authorities to ensure it is completed in a timely manner and not rushed at the final hour.
“It is the ministry of works, but the minister of sports [Daryll Matthew] what is he following up on? Why isn’t he looking at getting it done? Why he don’t put pressure on Public Works? Netball has struggled over the years and we have reached thus far. We’ve put a lot into netball and it’s not even to be arguing about, but the tournament is here and a lot of work is there to be done,” she said.
Nine teams, including hosts Antigua and Barbuda, will play in the round-robin formatted tournament slated to climax on October 8.
The other teams are defending champions St Vincent & the Grenadines, St Lucia, St Kitts & Nevis, Grenada, Dominica, Cayman Islands, and Montserrat.