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Thu, Mar

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In declaring 2005 as the Year of Sport and Physical Education the United Nations highlighted the important role that sport would play in the achievement of its Millennium Development Goals. In supporting its position the UN issued a statement which concluded, inter-alia:

"By its very nature sport is about participation, It is about inclusion and citizenship, sport brings communities together, highlighting commonalities and bridging cultural or ethnic divides. Sport provides a forum to learn skills such as discipline, confidence and leadership and it teaches core principles such as tolerance, cooperation and respect.''

These are impressive benefits and they have great relevance for countries like T&T where bringing communities together and bridging cultural or ethnic divides are critical to achieving national development.

Given these attributes, one would expect that sport would receive a sizeable chunk of the annual budget. Moreover, steps would be taken to ensure that the administrators who are managing sporting assets are no less qualified and competent than those who manage our hydrocarbon resources.

Unfortunately, the focus is almost exclusively on the technical aspects of sport and little attention is paid to other elements as outlined in the UN statement.

In West Indies cricket and local football, for instance, the debate continues to revolve around issues of coaching while the restructuring and reorganisation of the governing bodies are ignored. As a result the response to failure on the field is often the firing of a coach or captain while the management structures and administrative personnel remain untouched. This eventually leads to a situation of entrenched incompetence where sub-standard performances are accepted as the norm. The Trinidad and Tobago Football Fedration is in grave danger of falling into this abyss if it has not done so already.

Another major hindrance is the outmoded perception that sport is merely frivolity and recreation and not a fundamental pillar of development. Developed nations know otherwise and they allocate significant funds to acquire the many benefits that sport provides. They know that success especially at the international level is the result of sustained and systematic programmes from the early years right through to the elite level.

This requires a combination of sound technical knowledge and effective management and perhaps this is where sponsors and funding agencies should provide support. The most successful team managers across the globe are usually those who understand the complex management issues "beyond the boundary''. People like Sir Alex Ferguson, for instance, are equally comfortable with modern human resource management and strategic planning as they are with the intricacies of 4-3-3 or 4-4-2.

Some years ago during a stint with the FIFA Technical Committee, I paid a visit to the Arsenal Training Centre at Hertfordshire. The "Gunners'' were ruling the roost at the time and they had a star-studded team with the likes of Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry and the midfield general Patrick Vieira. After watching an intensive training session, I was taken on a tour of the state-of-the-art facilities by former Arsenal great Liam Brady who was in charge of the youth development programme. I later met their acclaimed manager Arsene Wenger who asked my opinion about the training centre.

I told him I was particularly impressed by the outdoor playfields with underground heating and the indoor swimming pool with the mobile floor. He smiled and pointed to a relatively long, narrow corridor and suggested that it was one of the more important aspects of the facility. I looked at him in disbelief and thought perhaps he was joking. He then explained that in order to get to the dressing rooms all players, whether senior team and youth team, had to pass each other in the corridor. He added that the daily intermingling of players served not only to show the youngsters what they must aspire to become but it also reminded the star players where they had come from. He felt that these were necessary reminders for both groups every time they went onto the field. I have been an Arsenal fan ever since despite the recent absence of silverware.

In T&T we have had numerous examples of the positive impact of sport on human, social and community development. For starters, hundreds of young men and women have received free tertiary education in the United States and elsewhere as a result of their sporting prowess. In addition, communities such as Preysal and Pt Fortin have accumulated considerable social capital through the success of sporting programmes within their environment.

There was also a time when the phrase "Belmont Battalion'' did not refer to any criminal gang but to the mighty Colts football team that attracted hundreds of fans to the Queen's Park savannah. Unfortunately, in the case of Pt Fortin, much of this legacy has dissipated although football icon Leroy de Leon is now back in his hometown seeking to rekindle the glory days.

In his regard, the recent announcement by the Ministry of Sport to place greater emphasis on sport at the community level is a step in the right direction. People in communities throughout T&T would certainly welcome any serious initiative to develop sport on a long-term basis. Once they are convinced that a comprehensive, systematic plan is in place, I have no doubt that they will shout in unison "Colour Me Sport".