Simon: Warri Association being undermined

Internal wrangling and a lack of desire by players to move to the next level are hampering the growth of warri here in Antigua. This is the view of international warri champion, Trevor Simon, who said he has made several attempts or requests for players to join the international players’ body but has had little to no success.
“I have brought this situation to the Antigua and Barbuda Warri Association since 2012 and as a matter of a fact, in 2012, I encouraged all the players there [at international tournament] to sign up to be a member of the International Warri Players Association because once you become a member, they share information, they send everything to you and anytime a tournament is playing anywhere they send it to you, that’s part of the privilege of being a member and none of them signed up,” he said.
“In 2013 they had the tournament here in Antigua and I went to all these and asked them to become members of the International Warri Players Association and not one of them took up the offer,” he added.
Simon, along with another international player and former world champion, September Christian, recently participated in the World Nomad Games in which Simon was crowned champion of the individual championship. Simon and Christian then joined forces to win the team award.
According to Simon however, the state of the local warri association is a cause for concern.
“I don’t think the public is aware of the sort of undermining which has beset warri in recent times. The president, Mr. Joel Carr, has made several efforts to get the warri association going and every time he calls a meeting to address the constitution, membership and so forth, there is no quorum and when you really dig behind the scenes, there is one particular individual who’s at the centre of undermining the association in that regard,” the player said. Simon, who has won several international titles, said he remains committed to the game and is willing to assist in whatever way needed.
“September [Christian] because of certain things, has decided to take a backseat but I do everything possible to help the game move forward. I am not a member of the executive but sometimes they invite me to executive meetings to get my input and I am always happy to lend a hand. Right now we need to reorganise the warri, get some new injection and some new blood,” he said.
Simon and some members of the warri association met with Minister of Sports Daryll Matthew, last week as they sought to address some of the issues affecting the mind-game.