Tony Becca
IT Is said that a friend in need is a friend indeed, and if that is so, West Indies cricket has certainly found a friend, a good friend, in Digicel.
For the next five years, Digicel will be sponsoring the West Indies team at home and abroad. According to the company, it could even be longer than that and the West Indies Board is happy that after Cable & Wireless, sponsor of its home series for many, many years after Sandals Resorts and Carib Beer sponsors of the West Indies team in away series on a few occasions, it has found another friend.
This time, however, it is a friend with a vision, a friend who realises that in order to win, in order to be the best, there has to be a strong base. This time it is a friend who appreciates that there can never be a champion cricket team where cricket is not strong and that right now cricket is not strong in the West Indies, certainly nowhere as strong as it used to be.
Sponsorship of the West Indies team is wonderful, coaching the West Indies team is important, competitions are necessary, and so too academies and seminars. In order for the West Indies to once again produce a team that is the best in the world, however, there has to be greater participation.
In other words, for there to be a winning West Indies team, a better West Indies team, more people, more young people, have to play the game, and those who really want to see the West Indies return to its former glory have to encourage them to do so.
In some cases quantity is not as important as quality. When it comes to grassroots participation, however, quantity is more important for the simple reason that the greater the participation, the better the chances of great players emerging.
That is why West Indies cricket has found a friend, a good friend in Digicel.
In announcing its multimillion U.S. dollar sponsorship, Digicel has stated that apart from sponsoring the West Indies team at home and abroad, apart from sponsoring West Indies youth teams, it will also be assisting in the development of West Indies cricket from the ground up.
TELEVISION BROADCASTS
According to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Raoul Fernandez, that assistance will include not only the sponsorship of the West Indies team at home and abroad, not only West Indies junior teams, and not only the sponsorship of select junior teams and elite academies, it will also include popularising the game in the hunt for greater participation.
In its efforts to spread the gospel, Digicel will be sponsoring live television broadcasts of international matches involving not only the West Indies, but also other teams. It will be developing a programme that will attract people to the game and it will be developing made-for-TV programmes that will give fans a greater insight into the game. And there is more.
In its efforts to encourage participation and to prompt others to encourage participation, Digicel will be offering scholarships to young players to attend overseas institutions and incentives to the media. That but, for one thing, is really wonderful.
At the announcement in Bridgetown some two weeks ago, Fernandez said Digicel was proud to be the title sponsor of West Indies cricket. According to him, one reason was because Digicel will be making the game more accessible across the region.
The only way the game can be more accessible across the region, however, is if the clubs, the heart of cricket, are accessible to young players. The only way the clubs will be accessible to young players is if they are around, and the only way the clubs will be around is if they are financially viable.
Right now, however, the clubs are struggling financially and in this day and age, with all the effort some of them are making, the only way they will survive is if they too get some assistance.
The clubs, it should be remembered, have to prepare pitches for practice and matches, they have to provide nets for practice, they have to provide good fields and in order to do that they have to employ groundsmen and pay the water bill.
On top of that, and apart from providing meals and refreshments, the clubs also have to provide bats and balls, pads and gloves - and all in an effort, not only to produce players good enough to represent the West Indies, but also players good enough to make the West Indies team the best in the world.
The clubs, the foundation of West Indies cricket, are in dire need of a friend or two.
