Despite a great deal of progress in terms of sports facilities over the last 25 years, Saint Lucia still has a lot of room for improvement, especially in terms of management and planning. The past quarter century has seen the development of international-class facilities in cricket, track and field, and football, with a new venue for swimming in train. Yet the local sporting fraternity has often been an afterthought in the plan of use for those stadia, and the management of community venues has often left them unusable for long periods of time.
The Rodney Heights Aquatic Centre was built in 2001. In 2002, the National Stadium was completed in Vieux Fort, and the Beausejour Cricket Ground in Gros Islet. Now renamed the George Odlum Stadium (GOS) and Daren Sammy Cricket Ground, those two latter venues effectively replaced Mindoo Phillip Park (MPP) in Castries. MPP had historically been the home of national football, cricket, and athletics, whilst swimming sought refuge in hotel pools.
The 9 000 capacity athletics and football stadium in Vieux Fort was comprehensively refurbished in time for the 2009 CARIFTA Games, the first time Saint Lucia had hosted an international sporting event of that magnitude. Within a year, following the fire at St Jude Hospital, the GOS structure was taken over by the healthcare authorities.
Although GOS has been used continuously for practice and competition since 2009, the stands have steadily fallen into disrepair. Unable to host events like the Senior Games, Inter-School Track and Field, Blackheart Football, or FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, the superstructure succumbed to sea blast. The stands literally rotted away, although the process had begun even before CARIFTA 2009. Vehicles driving on the rubberised track have not helped the situation, and the competition surface at GOS is now long overdue for replacement.
The Government of Saint Lucia has stated that it will “prioritise” the restoration of GOS, once the hospital is back in its rightful place. Monies have been secured from the Saudi Fund for Development towards that end. But planning for what will essentially be a new facility on old bones should already have been underway. The relaying of the competition area and the establishment of stands will be the bare minimum.
Back in 2002, GOS was envisioned as the centre of a sports complex, with a warm-up track, a gymnasium, and a pool. At some point, living quarters may also have been part of the conversation. An indoor court for basketball, netball, and volleyball would go a long way towards developing those sports in Vieux Fort and environs. So too a 25-metre, four-lane pool.
If such amenities are to be part of the plan for GOS, however, thought must be given to the coaching climate. The Saint Lucia Aquatics Federation is rolling out its grassroots programme. Landlocked Plain View Combined once won the primary schools’ swimming competition. How much more could they do with access to a pool and coaches? Likewise, governing bodies for the court sports must work with the Government in a deliberate manner to ensure coaching is available.
Meanwhile, the 15 000-seat Daren Sammy Cricket Ground hosted its first Test match in 2003, with the West Indies facing Sri Lanka. The first venue in the Caribbean to host matches under lights, DSCG has been mostly empty for the longest format. But that is hardly unique to Saint Lucia, and we won’t be hosting the Ashes anytime soon. In fact, this year DSCG hosted first-class cricket, will host the West Indies A team, and the CPL. That will be all for the venue.
The facility has largely benefitted from the advent of T20 cricket, however. DSCG is sold out for the Caribbean Premier League and West Indies T20 matches. But as was the case with GOS in its pomp, DSCG makes a significant portion of its revenue from entertainment. Concerts are among the primary revenue streams for stadia worldwide, and DSCG is no different. There has been a fair amount of talk over the years about DSCG hosting bespoke events, sporting or otherwise, to better control revenue generation.
Heading towards its silver jubilee, DSCG remains one of the newer venues in the region. But like most, if not all, of the region’s stadia, it is not climate-smart. Kensington Oval famously installed solar panels for the 2024 Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup. Those panels were struck repeatedly during that competition. So perhaps solar panels on top of a cricket ground may not be such a great idea. But DSCG also has the entire roof of the Beausejour Gymnasium to work with, and the National Aquatic Centre under construction.
DSCG also has no rainwater harvesting or storage facilities. It unfortunately has that in common with many stadia around the region. Construction of a cistern has been discussed in the past, but DSCG still uses pipe-borne water for most uses, including irrigation.
In 2024, the Government greenlit a disbursement of $80 million to upgrade facilities, including DSCG, MPP, Marchand Grounds, and The Sab, inter alia. Managed through the National Lotteries Authority, the funds allowed for works towards hosting the Cricket World Cup. But they also allowed for much-needed upgrades to over a dozen community playing fields.
Those upgrades will be for nought if the current management paradigm persists. The debate about field maintenance is seemingly never-ending. Unkempt grass interrupts recreation and training, and the advent of artificial surfaces on some fields has done little to address the situation. The status quo is that grass cutting is a job done by community-based contractors, usually small business owners or sole operators.
I think that a more effective model would be to support the development of medium-sized companies that can manage multiple fields, and assist them by purchasing inputs and providing training. It would be a similar process to what obtains with the Youth Economy Agency or the Small Business Development Centre, but with a specific focus on venue management.
Government has also revisited the idea of covering the Vigie Multipurpose Sports Complex in Castries. The Gros Islet Playing Field project seems to have gone remarkably well, and the venue is now being used for Saint Lucia Premier League cricket. We wait to see what the works at The Sab will look like. Grande Riviere Playing Field is nearing completion, and the lights are now up at Corinth Playing Field. There is a lot of work being done, but the underlying planning to maximise the use of these facilities must not be ignored.
Terry Finisterre is a member of the board of directors of Sports St Lucia Inc, which manages the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground.
