By Neto Baptiste
Minister of Sports, Daryll Matthew, has said it is highly unlikely that the Antigua and Barbuda Football Association (ABFA) will be given permission to utilise the historic Antigua Recreation Grounds (ARG) for matches in its Premier Division competition during the 2024/25 season.
Matthew was responding to reports by a member of the ABFA’s media team, Neil Cochrane, that the body is currently in talks with the Ministry of Sports to move some of its top flight matches to the venue, once touted as the home for football.
“I have zero desire or interest for football to be played at the ARG on any regular basis. We spent a lot of resources to get the ARG back to a state where it is fully ready for international cricket if we need to. It was used as a practice venue during the World Cup [T20] earlier this year and I can say without fear of reservation that I have zero interest in football being played at the venue,” he said.
The football association previously held a lease for the ARG but had not used the venue since 2020 after they were forced to abandon the 2019/20 season due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Government recently revoked a lease on the venue that was granted to the ABFA in 2012 after the association failed in it’s bid to adequately maintain the facility.
“The ARG sat idly for several years and it almost came across as if it was no longer useable for football because of the state of the field and so on were not in a god place and so you left it and went to he turf [technical center] which is fine and I have no issue with that but with the government and the ministry having out so much money into the ARG to bring it back, it can’t be that there is a situation where that now it is in a good stead we want to use it again. It can’t be right and it can’t be reasonable,” the minister said.
Matthew assured that with the surface and other areas of the venue already in good condition, work will continue with the aim of utilizing the facility for different forms of cricket.
“It is still in the plans and we’re just doing or about to do the repairs and the work following Carnival. England is coming in November as well so it could very well be used as a practice venue for the England tour but it is certainly going to be used as a venue for cricket whether Combines Schools, Parish League or whatever,” he said.
The 2024/25 domestic football season is tentatively scheduled to kick off later this month.
