Value of Lara Cricket Academy

THE EDITOR: In TT there is a pervasive culture of inconclusive arguments. A kind of persistent disagreeableness. Some may say a poverty of thought process from the perspective that arguments never seem to establish a solid platform for taking the conversation to the next level and then to the next and yet again to the next. The late Lloyd Best referred to this phenomenon as a society being in stasis.

(Make absolutely no mistake about it, it is upon this insatiable commitment to the hard work of progressive engagement and analytical reasoning that the concept of development rests. Let’s for example consider the fact that Caroni 1975 Ltd was decommissioned because it was unprofitable to produce sugar: But what of rum. Add to that pure alcohol which is used as a base for almost all medication.)

This, despite the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of tertiary educated citizens of this country who would be hard pressed to deny that they have never been exposed to the thesis, antithesis, synthesis reasoning construct.

Fortunately for the taxpayers of TT and the lovers of this Caribbean civilisation of ours, there were those who continued tirelessly and remained relentless and intractable in their cause of the establishment of the Brian Lara Academy for well over two decades.

Their beliefs were reasoned as follows:

* That Lara’s accomplishments were phenomenal and world-beating.

* That because of this and much more, Lara fitted the mould of Genius.

* That such genius most certainly needed to be recognised by any people who were serious about who they were, and are, as Lara repeatedly announced to the world: 159, 277, 375, 400, 501.

* That such recognition be a tangible investment.

* That the investment be in infrastructure for sport.

* That such infrastructure for sport be in particular a cricket stadium.

But there were even more equally large and compelling imperatives, such as:

* What the Lara stadium would mean as regards culture and identity.

* The tremendous significance of the sport of cricket to the people of the region.

* What such a stadium carrying the name Lara would mean for the imbibing of a spirit of excellence, self-worth, self-esteem and pride.

* The significant role sport plays in instilling an appreciation for the rule of law.

* The influence of the hero on culture and the aspirations of our young people.

* The impact that the consolidation of such a resource would have on human resource development over time.

* The potential such a resource can telescope for investment and income generation.

Let recent and clearly demonstrated events hosted at this facility bring once and for all a firm and definite conclusion, an eternal rest, a solemn internment over the question of the value of sport tourism.

While so doing, let it also bring to that like fate, the question of the value of sport to the matter of the diversification of the economy, keeping well and foremost in mind that the Caribbean Premier League editions 2013 and 2017 have generated sums of US$12.85 million and US$23.6 million, respectively, the latter of which the Brian Lara Cricket Academy has contributed in no small measure.

In closing, it is absolutely important to point out that if the above details were truly internalised by us as a people we would never have left the academy in the state that we did on the night of September 16, 2017.

Philosophically then, the thing about us and the plantation according to so many of our renowned regional scholars is that it – the plantation – never taught us to truly own anything but successfully kept us by virtue of such in a constant, rhythmic, ever pulsating, jamming-still vacuum of mindlessness.

DAVID MOWLAH-BAKSH

chairman

Union Park Development Committee