The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

AMIDST all of the criticism levelled at the organisers of the BTC Carifta Games, Basil Christie tried to set the record straight, indicating that the local organising committee picked up the baton and tried to deal with a series of problems that arose with the aurora of the new Thomas A Robinson Track and Field Stadium.

“What we tried to achieve in planning the 2013 Carifta Games was to promote a Carifta spirit within our community,” said Christie, who served as the chairman of the local organising committee. “I think our marketing and public relations committee did a good job in establishing that because everybody knew about the Carifta Games.

“We started out with an outstanding opening ceremony and that set the pace for the performances of the athletes throughout the three days of competition that followed. We were able to develop an atmosphere that brought together the nations of the Caribbean in a festive environment.”

However, Christie admitted that the games didn’t go on without its share of glitches.

“Everything we did in planning, everything we met in organising this Carifta was unique,” he said. “The stadium, entertainment, the new song, the mascot, the quality of the officiating, everything was new and it was at its optimum. There was a lot of things that didn’t go the way we had planned, there were a lot of things that we didn’t anticipate.

“But I’m satisfied that with this dynamic organising committee that we had, as we encountered a problem, they were corrected and modified. Yes, there were some criticisms, but there were a lot of successes as well. I think, for the most part, we attempted to correct any and every issue that was brought to our attention. We dropped the baton, but we picked it up and we kept on running.”

There were a number of issues that stemmed from the accreditation of athletes, officials, volunteers and media personnel, the sale of tickets and the number of seats that were available although persons were constantly told that they were all sold out and the interruption of the internet services and lack of a “proper tribune” for the media to work from.

But Christie said from all indications, he was only aware of the western side of the stadium being sold out where the majority of the people preferred to sit.

“The ticket sales were beyond our expectations. We were not prepared for the demand from the people,” he said. “We tend to be a last minute people. We’ve always had seats in the stadium, especially on the eastern side, but we had people who brought tickets for the western side and they didn’t come. Once those tickets were sold, we could not have regenerated them to the public again.”

Christie said they had a number of companies who purchased tickets for the various schools and for some reason, they didn’t all show up, which resulted in a lot of “no shows.”

On the whole, Christie said despite all of the negative criticisms they received, he was extremely pleased with the support from corporate Bahamas, the Bahamian people, the volunteers and the performances of the athletes in general, not just from the Bahamas, but the other 25 participating countries.

As for the disruption of the internet services, leaving visiting journalists from the various countries irate because they had difficulties getting their work done on a timely fashion, Marlon Johnson, the senior vice president of marketing and communications at BTC, made it emphatically clear that as the major sponsor of the games, they didn’t fall down on their end of the bargain.

“We decided to provide free internet to the first 1,000 people who came into the stadium,” he said. “That was just something that we did out of our own generosity. We were never in any commercial arrangement with anybody about the internet service. Had we been approached by the National Sports Authority or the local organising committee, we could have ensured that the proper system was put in place from the initial step up.”

Johnson said they made an official response to the criticism on their website, but he said having gone through the ordeal, BTC will remain in contact with the organisers of future events at the stadium to ensure that whatever is needed will be provided in sufficient time to provide the adequate internet and mobile services, especially for the working media at the stadium.

“We just wanted it to be clear because we heard that we didn’t fulfil our obligation when we were never contacted to provide any such commercial services at the stadium,” he said. “We had some hiccups, but we have been very pleased to be the title sponsor for the games. The stadium really came to life and we were just delighted to have been a part of it.”

Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Dr Daniel Johnson was walking around as proud as a peacock, citing the games as he did prior to the start that it was “the best ever.”

“We said it when we started it, we did it and the people have been very proud of us having it here,” he said.”It was a first- class event.”

On the criticisms that he heard, Johnson also went on the record to say that while there were some glitches with “the tickets, the accreditation and with the media accommodations in the stadium,” he apologised to all involved.

“As we move ahead, a lot of these problems that we encountered, you won’t see them happening again,” he said. “I want to say to all of our brothers and sisters, who came from the 25 different countries throughout the Caribbean and all those who were visiting from the United States and elsewhere, we are sorry for the simple little things that didn’t go as planned. We take full responsibility for all that went wrong.”

Johnson said the games will be used as a test for the upcoming Chris Brown Invitational in two weeks, the exhibition match between Tottenham Hotspur Football Club and the Jamaican national football team on May 23 and the IAAF World Relays that will come back-to-back in 2014 and 2015.

“We are getting ready for big things,” he said. “We will fix everything that went wrong and make sure that those problems will not occur again.”