Griffith slams proposed $850m stadium

Griffith made it clear that the move will be counter-productive, as athletes willing to represent Trinidad and Tobago will "still have to pay to represent their country."

The former United National Congress (UNC) Senator stated, "It is quite obvious that absolutely no cost-benefit analysis or proper-needs assessment was done to justify this facility by a Government that constantly criticised the construction of four stadia each, at a cost of less than $100 million.

"Yet they now find justification to construct a training facility to be built in a sparsely populated area, inclusive of a ‘practice’ cricket facility with a seating capacity of over 20,000 that will never see a crowd of over 1,000 turning up there, as the only time you can get numbers in excess of 10,000 at a cricket match is at the One-Day Internationals, and these matches will still be played at the Queen’s Park Oval."

Griffith also slammed the Government, who were reluctant to accept the 2007 Cricket World Cup Committee’s offer to bid for matches under special packages.

"So they are really spending $265 million for a ‘practice’ cricket field to prepare for First Round games only, which would have ‘world class’ cricket countries such as probably Denmark and Kenya," he wondered. "That certainly makes the world of sense."

On the topic of athletes’ funding their own needs when representing Trinidad and Tobago, Griffith said:

"Instead of placing all of their attention on mental, physical and tactical preparation, they instead are forced to share this time by seeking (donations and) sponsorships from business organisations, and sometimes even taking on two jobs.

"They are told time and time again, and in no uncertain terms, that the Ministry of Sports will only financially contribute a small portion , upon which the relevant amateur sporting body is mandated to pay the remainder, and if they are unable to do so, then the national team will not go."

"I am not saying that such a billion dollar sport training facility is of no value to our nation," he opined, "but we need to get our priorities straight.

"If our nation is now so filthy rich that we can spend over $1,000 million for a sports facility that will be an inevitable white elephant," Griffith continued, "then we must ensure that our national sportsmen and women must never be forced to put their hands in their pockets to represent us again.

"This includes providing them with stipend for travelling to games and training, providing them with suppliments and vitamins, medical insurance plans whilst training and at all tournaments, purchasing of uniforms and above all, not having the least concern about financial shortfalls prior to an international tournament," he emphasised.

"This should cost the Government no more than $100 million per annum for all sporting disciplines, which is a drop in the bucket as compared to a billlion dollar stadium that will be empty most of the time," Griffith ended.