By Neto Baptiste
Schools sports records dating back decades have reportedly been accidentally destroyed and most of them discarded at the Cooks Dump.
This is according to reports that hard copies of match forms, team sheets and match results covering all schools and community sports from 2000 going as far back as 1970, were discarded earlier this month after they were reportedly removed from the old Sports and Games offices at the YMCA Sports Complex.
Observer was able to verity that the records were in fact discarded during a routine cleaning of the building.
Former national and West Indies fast bowler, Kenneth “Flipper” Benjamin, addressed the matter during the Good Morning Jojo Sports show on Thursday.
“Who should be responsible for all of these records for Pat Whyte who, when he died, we had such a big thing about it, and what wonderful work he did, but where is Pat Whyte’s work? Where is his legacy in scoring all those school and community documents from since the 70’s, and who is to be held responsible for that? All these things gone to Cooks and nobody is going to be held accountable,” he said.
Benjamin said the records should have been stored in a more modern fashion a long time ago and kept in a safe place.
“Derrick Nicholas, the former Leeward Islands [Cricket Board] secretary, I can remember him going to the Ministry of Sports and saying to them, I think it was during Winston Williams’ time, let me put all of these files on the computer or have them computerised so they could go online and the hard copies we put them in the archives,” he said.
Observer reached out to a number of ministry officials who, at the time, declined to speak on the development.
