Milking the Soca Warriors

The players now have confirmation of a substantial monetary reward for their efforts, so the debate is now a moot point.

That is all good news for the Soca Warriors but what about using one of our greatest sporting achievements to lay down something meaningful for a nation ailing from the effects of crime and social deprivation?

Some of the Warriors have mentioned that they will now be ploughing their rewards back into their community, in a classic case of “giving something back from whence they came” but our Ministries should be leading the way in this endeavour.

One suggestion would be to set up a nationwide youth football league in honour of those Warriors that made that initial step onto the world stage, as a means of fostering the community spirit that has been eroded from TT society. This erosion is a major factor in the development of a generation of criminals as well as the divisiveness that currently tears apart many segments of the population.

While we have leagues such as the school based Intercol for our youths, it is hardly all-encompassing and does not provide a team with which an entire community can identify and unite in common support. We are all aware of the benefit that sport provides in providing direction and discipline for youths that are so easily led down the criminal path, in a nation where the few social programmes that exist continually fail them. Imagine instead a team for which an underprivileged youth can aspire to play or the burgeoning excitement amongst fervent and united supporters of a clash between teams named after Shaka Hislop and Kelvin Jack?

But naming league teams after sporting heroes is not enough; it would be no different to the naming of DC-9 aircraft after our heroes of yesteryear. Oh, and a few suggestions for some of the teams: The Latapy Lads, The Yorke Youths, The Birchall Boys, The Sancho Superstars...you get the idea. Over to you Mr Boynes, we have heard the plans for 2010, let us hear the plans for now, our communities await.