Forward to World Cup

IT IS comforting to hear that regional plans for hosting the Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2007 are on target. When the West Indies Cricket Board won the bid to host the CWC five years ago, it had assigned to WI states the task of organising the biggest joint event, sporting or otherwise outside the political arena, in their history. The World Cup finals are without doubt the most popular tournament in the cricketing world also attracting the interest, indeed the participation, of many countries outside the Test arena. It may surprise many cricket fans to learn, for example, that in last year’s World Cup qualifying series, teams from Canada, China, Russia, Ireland, Scotland, Holland, Namibia, Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Spain and the United Arab Emerates, among others, took part in an effort to get into the finals, with Canada actually qualifying. So interest in the World Cup is really world-wide as compared to Test cricket in which ten nations compete for honours. The West Indies, then, are preparing to host an event which will attract a huge gathering of spectators to the region and will also be seen through television hook-ups by millions, perhaps billions, across the globe.

It is obvious then that the benefits our region stands to gain from the successful staging of Cricket World Cup 2007 will be tremendous. For over several weeks, the West Indies, including tourism-oriented islands such as Grenada, Antigua, St Lucia and St Vincent will be the focus of world-wide attention and, apart from the direct revenues of accommodating visiting spectators, these small states are certain to benefit from the international exposure. It has already been reported that Chris Dehring, Managing Director of Windies World Cup 2007, has estimated the economic windfall which Jamaica could derive from the sale of tickets, sponsorship, broadcast rights and a boost in tourism could amount to US $500 million. The financial benefits for Trinidad and Tobago, where an “excited” Prime Minister Patrick Manning has pledged his government’s full support for the country’s World Cup effort, may well hover around that figure. Apart from the economic advantages of this venture, we could hardly think of a better means of underscoring the rising interest in West Indies integration than the cooperation which hosting the CWC will require from Caricom member states. As far as we can see, three major hurdles need to be overcome if our efforts are to succeed: First we must be careful not to allow the process of selecting match venues from becoming a contentious affair, reflecting the insularity that now and then raises its ugly head in the selection of our Test players.

According to Dehring, a “thorough tender process” will begin in October-November this year by which each interested territory will bid to become an official CWC venue. According to Don Lockerbie, venue development director for CWC 2007, the “venue” will be determined not simply by the playing field but will be the entire country, including airports, seaports and hotels. A total of 12 teams are expected to contest the CWC finals in an equal number of venues so some tough decisions may have to be made. Secondly, there is the necessary infrastructure, requiring facilities beyond those of Test matches, to be provided which would need the heavy financial backing of governments. And, thirdly, there is perhaps the most difficult problem of the entire enterprise, that is arranging for the timely transport of teams and their large retinue of supporters to the different island venues. We hope that by then the proposed merger between BWIA and LIAT would have been completed and that the airline would be strong enough to handle this special challenge. We are pleased to hear that the region is on target with its preparations for hosting CWC 2007 and we expect that member countries will proceed on the understanding that the event, like the game of cricket, is bigger than its participants.