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SDF TARGETS MAINTENANCE

Sporting agency to ramp up drive for upkeep of sponsored facilities

Published:Thursday | September 1, 2022 | 12:08 AMLivingston Scott/Gleaner Writer
File photo shows Carl Thompson (left) as he tries to get away from Alex Rhule during a game of football (American) at the Breezy Castle playing field in Kingston on Thursday August 15, 2019. They boys were participating in a yearly summer camp, which is he
File photo shows Carl Thompson (left) as he tries to get away from Alex Rhule during a game of football (American) at the Breezy Castle playing field in Kingston on Thursday August 15, 2019. They boys were participating in a yearly summer camp, which is held at the facility.
SDF’s General Manager Denzil Wilks.
SDF’s General Manager Denzil Wilks.
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FOR OVER two decades, the Sports Development Foundation (SDF) has been instrumental in developing many community sports grounds and facilities, which now exist islandwide. However, due to improper management and maintenance, many of these once-...

FOR OVER two decades, the Sports Development Foundation (SDF) has been instrumental in developing many community sports grounds and facilities, which now exist islandwide.

However, due to improper management and maintenance, many of these once-proud landmarks have deteriorated to being community eyesores.

General manager of the SDF, Denzil Wilks, said the organisation has been making note of the neglect of many of these facilities and is looking at ways of maintaining their upkeep.

Wilks pointed out that before, during, and after each project, a community organisation is identified and given the responsibility of maintaining the facilities.

However, in many cases when the persons assigned moved on from the community, usually there are no successors to fulfil this task.

“The issue of maintenance is a big issue. It is something on the table for a long time. Our mandate does not include maintenance,” Wilks pointed out. “When we build a facility, it’s usually for a school or a community organisation. Then, maybe a couple of stalwarts from that community organisation may migrate, or pass on, and then the succession stops.”

MAINTENANCE

He added: “We usually give them a blueprint of what is required for maintenance. However, in the case of football fields, the fields usually require so much water that they usually cannot maintain it.”

He insists that too many facilities have fallen into disrepair, but contends that they are looking at strategies to alleviate the problem.

One thing being contemplated is broadening the capacity of Independence Park Limited (IPL) and placing these facilities under their supervision.

The other is forging a collaboration with schools to assist communities improve the maintenance of the facilities.

“We are looking at facilities under the broad responsibilities of the Government, and it is being looked at from an IPL perspective,” shared Wilks. “IPL has two major facilities, National Stadium and Trelawny Multipurpose Stadium, that they are responsible for. But discussions are taking place around facilities that are community-oriented, but are owned at the government level.

“They want to see if IPL could be that management organisation that broadens it functions to cover those other areas,” he continued.

There is also a proposal to get the bulk of facilities into the hands of schools, as there is a conviction that the success level is likely to be greater because of the structures the schools have.

DISCUSSIONS IN PROGRESS

“Even if the community has weaknesses, the school, by nature of how it operates, has to maintain things at a certain level,” the SDF general manager explained. “These discussions are taking place at the policy level because we recognise that this is a shortcoming that needs to be addressed.”

Many of the properties have been allowed to run down, for example, the Goshen Sports Complex, which is a major sporting hub in St Elizabeth.

Many, like the facilities in Crawford and Barbary Hall, also in St Elizabeth, and Southside (Breezy Castle, Rae Town) in Kingston, have maintained strong management and successors to carry on the upkeep.

However, Wilks pointed that COVID-19 has exacerbated many things.

“Goshen had one of the best fields and there was a vibrant community organisation, which experienced some downturn, and the facility is no longer what it used to be,” he said.

The Gleaner understands that some rehabilitation work, painting and bushing, is currently being done at the Goshen Sports Complex.

According to a member of the Goshen Football Club, who requested anonymity, the complex had deteriorated badly, but the CDC has been doing fundraisers to assist with the remedial work on the facility.

He noted that the field is overgrown, and that the Goshen football team, which plays in the St Elizabeth Football Association Major League semi-final on Friday, plays matches away at the Santa Cruz Community Centre.

However, he said a businessman has recently come in to assist the club and started clearing the field, which is nearly 50 percent completed. He also pointed out that the CDC has now assumed full management of the complex, and it is now run under strict supervision.

Wilks said the Breezy Castle management team has been doing very well.

“In the Rae Town area we completed a facility, and there is a vibrant community organisation, and we have close communication,” he said.

“Places like Breezy Castle, while you may see some level of deterioration, for many years that community organisation held things together. But some of these communities took a battering from COVID,” Wilks noted.

“It affected the communities, and activity levels. As a result, we might have to do a bit of an audit of what exists where we have built facilities all across the island over the last 25 years. So we are taking stock as we continue to get applications. But we are not just responding instinctively, we are looking at what has taken place in the past and what has taken place in these facilities,” he added.

Continuing, he said: “We are looking at examples of success and will try to emulate success stories in other places. Ultimately, you will have some fallout now and again, but we believe we will see much more successes than failures as far as maintenance of facilities is concerned.”

livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com