GCA President takes cricket to non-traditional areas in GT
By Sean Devers
DFG President Neil Barry.
Kaieteur News – Former Malteenoes, Demerara and National batsman Neil Barry are heading the new Executive of Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) which will serve for a two-year term after being elected on January 28.
Barry, 54, served as Vice President of the former West Indies chairman and current chairman of the West Indies Selectmen, Roger Harper, and may seek re-election for five two-year terms.
The GSA President aims to attract more women to cricket and wants to revive the game in non-traditional areas.
“Having more teams, especially at the lower levels is a challenge in an area like Georgetown, because there are so many competing activities for the young people. Access to opportunity as well.
At Georgetown there are several clubs, however, many of the players do not live close to those clubs that I think contribute to the lack of attendance, which is a reason the clubs struggling to produce teams.
So one of the things we’re trying to do is engage with the school system to get the human resources in the schools to take the game to them. Therefore, to achieve that objective, the ESW will have to work with the clubs to promote youth programs that can attract young people especially to those clubs close to schools, ”said Barry Queen’s College and representing Guyana at U-19 level in 1985 when Carl Hooper alone helped Guyana win the home title and also played in 1986 in Trinidad.
“I think there are a lot of under-served areas … low-income areas in the City that have not been well served in Cricket over the years, so we intend to take the game to those areas , ”Said Barry, a guest last Wednesday. Watch Sean Devers Sports the night on Kaieteur Radio.
Barry takes the helm at a difficult time for Georgetown cricket after the covid-19 pandemic halted the game in the City after a brief resumption after no cricket had been played at Georgetown since last March, while much of the First Division cricket ground is available due to activities other than cricket and softball tournaments that provide much needed funds for clubs.
“Georgetown starts in South Agricola and we have launched a cricket program there in conjunction with the NGO in the Village and we plan to take that all the way to Georgetown’s North East, Cummings Lodge and areas like Sophia and South Ruimveldt, Ruimveldt North, West and East because there are a lot of young people who would love to play the game but don’t get the opportunity because they’re not really there to monitor, said Barry who entered Sports Ministry as a 19-year-old.
Speaking about facilities for cricket in south Georgetown, Barry, who once lived in Laing Avenue, said he had some conversations with Ace Warriors officials from East Ruimveldt, but the ground at East Ruimveldt Community Center no longer has a plot, while that Football, the most popular sport in the South of the City, is the dominant sport played there.
“Well we are in the process of preparing and analyzing what we can do best to strengthen those smaller clubs, especially those in South Georgetown as part of our plans to devolve the Sport.
But the challenge with that land and most others in that area is that they are multi-sport facilities and Football is played a lot in the grounds of the East Ruimveldt Community Center so it may not be the land best to build a field.
But there are other grounds that can be used for Cricket in the Ruimveldt area such as North Ruimveldt Multilateral School grounds and land just behind the Ruimveldt South Park area where Football is not played, ”said Barry, who played seven First Class game. for Guyana between 1992 and 1996, making 244 runs with the highest score of 71 at an average of 22.18.
“We are also looking at an all-weather pitch with a batting cage at one corner of the ground where training and training sessions can be held and once Football is not played we could use the ground so we can attract children to cricket in those areas. It’s very different in areas where there is a predominantly cricket environment, ”Barry said.
Barry, who scored 87 runs in 12 50-man Regional matches for Guyana, advised that the immediate plans for 2021 are to extend the game to schools and low-income areas and engage all stakeholders in an effort to attract young women to The sport is in addition to promoting inclusivity among all clubs and ensuring the prioritization of hardball cricket tournaments on their grounds.
Former Captain Malteenoes, who scored the first division centuries for Malteenoes, said that attracting young people to cricket or any other sport depends on the attractiveness of the sport and the environment in which it is played.
On his thoughts on the return of the senior inter-county tournament, which was suspended in 2015 to host the Franchise league next year, Barry said he felt it was a good idea.
“Of course I support an inter-county return! An inter-county tournament assists in the preparation of world-class players, and promotes ownership and representation; meaning players representing their county will understand what it is to represent their county fans. It is important that we return to promoting that representation at a local level, ”noted the former Captain Malteenoes who made his First Class Debut over Demerara against Berbice in 1987.
Barry, who played two First Class games at the Inter-County level, with the last one in 1989, admitted that sponsorship is always difficult and depends on the economic environment that it receives at the time of application.
“However, the EAS has been able to work with our partners in the different economic sectors to maintain their sponsorship of our two big two-day competitions,” added Barry, father of West Indies physiotherapist and fitness instructor Neil Barry.
“We anticipate the continuation of our development programs across all cricket processes and will also focus on establishing a database to capture all scores and records which will improve the selection process. We have also designed a computer scoring workshop for Scores at DFG tournaments, ”said Barry.