media_artricles :: 2013

Coach Persad wants answers on ‘Manny Ramjohn’ delay

The failure to act swiftly in relaying the track at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium in Marabella has dried up the Simplex Athletic Club talent pool, robbing Trinidad and Tobago of future track stars.

This is the assertion of Simplex coach Gunness Persad.

“Since February,” Persad told the Express, “they closed the stadium and scraped the track off. That’s all that has happened.”

The veteran coach said the poor state of the track at the Ramjohn Stadium caused many schools in south Trinidad to cancel sports meetings in 2012.

“No South Eastern, St Patrick or Victoria District school—primary or secondary—has had a sports day at Manny Ramjohn Stadium in 2012 and 2013…the whole of the south. Most have had to cancel their sports days, because they would use ‘Manny Ramjohn’. As far as Guayaguayare, Moruga, Chatham, Mayaro, Rio Claro, Point Fortin, all primary school sports are held there.”

Persad said he discovered many of his club’s best athletes at school sports at the Ramjohn Stadium. The list includes double Olympic medallist Keston Bledman, fellow sprinters Moriba Morain and Joel Dillon, and half-miler Simeon Bovell.

“With no school sports at ‘Manny Ramjohn’, Simplex has had no new talent in the past two years.”

Persad, who serves on the National Association of Athletics Administrations (NAAA) executive as a trustee, said he had expected his athletes to have use of the Ramjohn Stadium before the end of the 2013 season.

“It was to be re-opened at the end of May/beginning of June, but everybody I asked concerning the track, no answer. No one can say when it starts and when it finishes. We’ve given up on 2013, but want to get it for 2014. The way it’s going, we might not get it even for next year.

“I want the Prime Minister (Kamla Persad-Bissessar) and Minister of Sport (Anil Roberts) to tell us what’s happening, because it’s costing us quite a lot to go to the Ato Boldon Stadium (in Couva) to train. The majority of my athletes come from Siparia, Palo Seco, Princes Town, and the majority of them are going to school.

“We’re also using the training field at ‘Manny Ramjohn’,” Persad continued, “but it’s uneven and athletes are getting injured. Also, they can’t get a full 100 metres. At about 60, they have to cut off.

“We are at ‘Ato Boldon’ at least once per week. From the beginning of February, we were paying $250 per month for Simplex to use it. For May and June, it was cut to $150. We pay to use ‘Ato Boldon’, but I heard that clubs in town (Port of Spain) are not paying to use Hasely Crawford Stadium.”

The Ramjohn Stadium is usually the venue for the Manny Ramjohn Games, but the meet had to be staged at the Crawford Stadium last year. The 2013 edition of the meet was also scheduled for the Port of Spain facility, but had to be called off.

In a press release this week, Organising Committee Chairman Jim Clarke said the meet was cancelled “due to the unavailability of the Hasely Crawford on May 11th 2013”.

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