Commentary

Sporting inequity

QUESTION: WHICH FOOTBALLER in Jamaica's history can boast a greater legacy than Arthur Wint or Herb McKenley?

Answer: None.

Question: Which Reggae Boy has accomplished more for Jamaica than Merlene Ottey, Donald Quarrie, Grace Jackson, Juliet Cuthbert, Bert Cameron, and now, Veronica Campbell?

Answer: None.

With this in mind how does one explain why the Reggae Boyz get hundreds of millions of dollars in preparation for their World Cup campaign while our track and field athletes get comparatively nothing?

I have nothing against the national football team but I use football as my main comparison for two reasons ­ because they have never won a major world tournament and because despite their relative ineptitude they still get hundreds of millions of dollars in funding from Government and the private sector.

The athletes, who, on the other hand, through hard work and great personal sacrifice, become the very best in the world in their chosen disciplines, find it hard to get a local sponsor. If there was ever a travesty, this has got to be it.

What is ironic about the whole thing is that many of the companies who turn our athletes away, or don't even consider extending a helping hand, are the ones taking out expensive ads in the media congratulating those very same athletes when they win Olympic or World Championship medals. To me this is nothing short of some kind of sick effort to associate themselves with the particular athlete whom they had turned their back on.

Sport is big business

The JAAA needs to take some of the blame for this though, because there are some people within that organisation that are yet to wake up to the reality that sport is a business. People no longer put themselves through the pain and torture of realizing physical superiority for the fun of it. Like everyone else they have families to feed and bills to pay and the last time I checked goodwill is not a suitable item of barter at the supermarket or at the utility company.

What I think businesses see in the Reggae Boyz is the team's ability to fill the national stadium whenever they play and the large following they attract worldwide. The very same can be done with our athletes. What the JAAA needs to do is to develop an aggressive marketing campaign to promote our Olympians and soon they, too, will cause the stadium to be filled whenever they perform here and they, too, can attract large followings worldwide. In fact, they already do.

As for funding prior to their success, the same way Supreme Ventures can sponsor the footballers to the tune of $30 million, they, along with other companies and the Government, can come together and create a fund of say, $100 million and have Capital and Credit or Dehring, Bunting and Golding or both of them, manage the funds. Whenever an athlete is in training here and needs money, they simply apply for a sum depending on their needs. I am sure that this would go a far way into helping develop the great athletic talent we have here in Jamaica.

Look, this is no disrespect to the Reggae Boyz but for them to even come close to accomplishing what our track and field athletes have at the Olympics and World Championships, they would have to win about seven World Cups. It's time we started treating our track athletes like the champions they are.