MONTEGO BAY SPORTS COMPLEX GOING TO WASTE
Iwas at the Montego Bay stadium on June 5, 2010, when the newly constructed $1.4-billion facility was officially opened; and while I was disappointed that it was only an 8,000-seat facility and not the 20,000-seat stadium that was promised, I nonetheless saw it a most welcomed addition to the sporting landscape in western Jamaica.
At the time, and until now, the new stadium offered easily the best surface for football in the western region and complements Jarrett Park, also in Montego Bay; and the Frome Sports Complex, in Westmoreland, as football facilities of note in the west. However, for me, its most important feature is the allweather synthetic running track, which remains the only one of its kind in western Jamaica.
While the stadium has hosted major national and international events to include the 2014 CONCACAF U-20 Championship, the final round of the 2014 Caribbean Cup; and the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship in 2015, I still believe it is badly underutilised and is probably just one or two rungs up the ladder from being labelled a white elephant.
It recently came to my attention that Montego Bay United Football Club, which has been using the facility on and off for several seasons, is no longer using it because of the prohibitive cost involved with its use. It therefore means that, except for the upcoming Milo Western Relays, the JPS Primary School Athletics Championship and possibly the Boys & Girls’ Western Athletics Championship, the facility is poised to remain unused for the remainder of the year.
Sadly, during the time that the stadium will be out of use, it will continue to incur a maintenance cost because, if there is no upkeep, the facility is likely to fall into a state of disrepair. With the running track already showing significant signs of wear and tear, I believe the powers that be need to put a proper management structure in place with a view of marketing it for greater use.
It is universally accepted that sports is one of the major tools in promoting unification and socialisation. With St James now a parish in violent turmoil, I strongly believe that, like in former times when Wadadah FC, Seba United (MBU) and Violet Kickers were dominating national football, we need to use sports to recapture the peace that we have lost to crime.
Back in the fantastic days of football glory, one could recall thousands of football fans roaming the streets of Montego Bay without fear after night games at Jarrett Park, some of which went up until as late as midnight. During that era, there was absolutely no question that sports was the main social thread that was driving peace and harmony among that generation of sportloving young people.
With the existing urgent need to recapture those ‘good old days,’ as an antidote to the current rampant lawlessness which has transformed St James into the nation’s murder capital, I believe serious consideration should be given to using the Montego Bay Stadium, even free of cost, as the catalyst for restoring peace and tranquillity to violence-weary residents.
REBUILD POSITIVITY
Personally, I believe MBU should be provided with every possible incentive, including only a token charge to use the stadium for night games, to help rebuild the positive social fabric that existed in the parish in the 1980s and 1990s. This could be the seed that could grow and set the foundation that is needed for lasting peace in St James.
I also believe that serious thought should also be given to creating the scope for other activities beside football and athletics at the stadium. I believe facilities should be put in place for basketball, netball, table tennis, boxing, swimming and gymnastics, among other sporting and recreational activities. The aim should be to make the facility the hub for sports in the parish.
I can vividly remember the days when sports lovers in Montego Bay would spend a lot of time bemoaning the absence of a top-flight sporting facility as Jarrett Park, which then held pride of place, wilted under the pressure of overuse. Now that we have a significantly better facility in the Montego Bay Stadium, it would be a great shame if we allow this facility, to become just a place holder in a parish that is crying out for positive social intervention to heal its social ills.