Sporting Facilities to be upgraded in South West St. Elizabeth
February 16, 2010The Full Story
Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Dr. Christopher Tufton, has said that plans are in place to develop sporting facilities in South West St. Elizabeth.
“A part of the long term development programme for sports in South West St. Elizabeth, is the upgrading of sporting facilities. We have a number of plans on the drawing board to fence fields, to create new fields, both cricket and football, and also all purpose courts for the ladies, for their netball, and that will take place over a period of time,” Dr. Tufton noted.
The Minister was speaking at the launch of the Insports/Christopher Tufton South West St. Elizabeth 20/20 Cricket Competition, at the Luana Sports Complex, in St. Elizabeth, on February 14.
Dr. Tufton, who is also Member of Parliament for the area, said that the competition has attracted 15 teams this year.
The Minister said he hoped the competition would enable the participating communities to learn from each other, and that it would produce good sports men.
“At the end of it, communities should relate to each other a little better and we should see some good sporting personalities coming out of the constituency, hopefully to go on to bigger and better things at the level of the parish or even at the level of the country and the Caribbean region,” he said.
Meanwhile, Community Development Officer for the Black River area, Mr. Damian Lowe, said that the competition is one of the ways to build community organisations and the spirit of the people.
Mr. Lowe pointed out that the competition is a spin-off from the Social Development Commission’s 20/20 community cricket, and also a part of the calendar of events that the communities plan to do fund-raising and to set up booths to sell local items.
At this year’s competition, the overall winning team will receive a trophy and prize money of $100,000, with second, third and fourth place receiving $50,000, $30,000 and $20,000, respectively. There will also be sectional prizes for the best batsman and best bowler.