By Neto Baptiste
Pundits have pointed to a general lack of maintenance and poor management at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium as the main reasons for the ongoing lighting debacle that, according to them, has further sullied the country’s name in the eyes of the international sporting fraternity.
One such pundit is former national footballer and cricketer Derrick Edwards who was a guest on Observer Radio’s Big Issues programme on Sunday. He said the stadium’s management dropped the ball in ensuring the facility was ready to host matches in the ongoing CG United Super 50 tournament.
“Those lights should have already been tested at least three weeks before the tournament because at the end of the day, you cannot have a company like ESPN carrying the games and then you have to take a break, because that could cause some repercussions for our country. So, I think it comes down to poor maintenance,” he said.
“I have to go back to my little experience at Stanford [T20] because those lights at Stanford were checked every month. Those lights at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium don’t have the hydraulic system to come down and go back up, so I think those lights should have been tested at least three weeks before to make sure that all the lights were working,” he added.
Edwards, better known for his prowess as a national footballer, suggested that the current towers at the facility should be changed to a more modern version that would not require anyone travelling up the towers in a bucket to repair or change bulbs.
“I think they should basically change the light towers and move to hydraulics and train the workers at the stadium how to operate the lights. I am just hoping that this incident does not happen again and I think that our biggest problem in this country is maintenance. At the end of the day you cannot invest millions of dollars into something and leave it there to rot. So I think that maintenance is a big problem and we need to improve on it,” he said.
Also appearing on the show was the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) spokesperson on sports and the party’s candidate for the All Saints East & St. Luke Constituency, Avoy Knight, who echoed Edward’s sentiments regarding proper management and maintenance.
“Why should a game of cricket be paused just so that the lights could be turned on at the required brightness? It is just unfortunate that such is the case and it really comes down to a matter of proper maintenance. If we have an international stadium of such caliber that plays international cricket and we already know how the schedule is going, I think there should be enough maintenance and enough ordering being done … have bulbs stored so that in the case of emergency these things could be replaced at a timely manner,” he said.
Last week, acting facilities manager at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium Keithroy Black apologised to the nation over the situation, revealing that although replacement bulbs had been ordered and arrived ahead of the tournament’s first match, the bulbs were not compatible with those used at the stadium.
The day/night matches, which are played at the stadium, are routinely halted at around 5:45 pm and restarted at 6:15 pm to allow the working bulbs to provide the necessary brightness for the match to continue.