By Neto Baptiste
Former president of the Antigua and Barbuda Cricket Association (ABCA), Zorol Barthley, has come to the defence of his son, Dario Barthley, the chief organizer of the much talked about Cool & Smooth T20 Explosion. The older Barthley alleged that there have been unwarranted verbal attacks by some within the cricket fraternity following the fallout with local clubs.
Speaking on the Good Morning Jojo Sports Show, Zorol clarified that his argument is not with the clubs’ decision to lobby for what they think is deserving but rather with the personal nature in which his son is being attacked.
“When the conversation starts and people are talking about how Dario speaks to them. … Maybe some people are thinking that I know him from he was a little boy and you’re now a big man and shouldn’t talk to me so, but Dario can defend himself. I’ll tell you what guts me, what hurts me as a father. When the comment is made that Dario must remember that the same people he pass going up is the same people he is going to pass coming back down, they’re implying that you think you’re on your high horse but you have to fall. So we’re waiting for you to fall and those are comments that will hurt. I am just saying that at the end of the day, you deal with the situation as it is so if the Cool & Smooth comes to an end because we can’t come to an agreement then you simply move on,” he said.
Zorol, who was president of the cricket association back in 2013 when the Cool & Smooth T20 Explosion started, further weighed in on the ongoing saga and a recent revelation that clubs have requested the association provide EC$9000 to each club ahead of their planned T20 tournament this year.
“Somewhere along the line, people are losing their rockers [minds] and yes, everybody has a right to what they believe in and to argue, because in this life you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate. At the same time, what are we doing for some of the young players who would have put their name on the map and gotten further opportunities because of their Cool & Smooth tournament – like Orlando Peters. I want to suggest that there are bigger issues at play. There are personal issues at play where people are utilizing the cricket and the cricketers for their own advancement,” he said.
The former youth West Indies player lamented the loss of what he believes could grow into a very fruitful tournament.
“Around the Caribbean, Cool & Smooth is the talk, players are begging please can I come. International players are funding their local players to come and play in the Cool & Smooth because of the magnitude of which the tournament got to. Like the minister said the other day, we like to say we start this and then we don’t have it. Every time I hear talk about the St Lucia Jazz Festival it’s oh, Antigua had the first jazz festival. But sometimes we put the cart before the horse and at the end of the day, I really hope that for the interest of the cricket the funding can be found somewhere to ensure that we have a tournament of it’s type that can showcase our players,” Zorol said.
Negotiations broke down between local clubs and members of the organizing committee for the popular T20 tournament in 2024 after they could not reach an agreement over payment for players.
Since the article didn’t say, let me state:
– the growth of the Cool & Smooth T20 was not because the sponsors injected more money, but on the back of the international funding that Dario brought to the table
– the exposure of the tournament was unheard of. The Scotland team that played in the T20 World Cup last year, had played in the 2023 Cool & Smooth, at no cost to the organisers; Dario’s initiative
– bottom line, Dario has a very low tolerance level for BS, and for some of the utterances we are hearing, he obviously had a lot of that to contend with.