Saturday 7th October, 2017
BACOLET, Tobago – Once touted to be the best kept stadium in the country, the Dwight Yorke Stadium (DYS) is now considered a white elephant crippled by a lack of maintenance.
Dwight Yorke Stadium photo by Kerry Walcott
A lack of maintenance has led to the implementation of Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) restrictions and it being closed to the public. Recently, photos have surfaced showing the deplorable state of the 7,500 capacity stadium. The photos showed a tale of gross negligence in all corners of the stadium.
From stained and broken bathrooms to rusted equipment and railings. The lights are inadequate and scoreboard out of commission. Plymouth-born Para-athlete Akeem Stewart complained recently about the lack of proper facilities at the DYS.
Akeem Stewart
Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs Darryl Smith identified the refurbishment of the DYS as one of the major areas which the Ministry will focus on in the next fiscal year. “You would have seen in the budget that we got some money for the Dwight Yorke Stadium…we (are) going full speed ahead with regards to working with the Tobago House of Assembly to get the Dwight Yorke Stadium back up to the level that it supposed to be,” Smith said. “That is the problem those stadia were built so long ago and nobody has been maintaining it. I am a big fan of Akeem and we are working with him. We will meet with him this week to ensure that he is comfortable and he could continue his training because he is a son of the soil.”
Back in 2015 following a tour by the Sports Minister Darryl Smith, it was announced that a sum of $80 million was needed to complete repair works at DYS. Smith noted that one of the problems of the past was the maintenance of sporting and other facilities across the country. He assured that this will stop under the present Government, as maintaining stadiums and other facilities will be top priority. While he expressed disappointment at the state of disrepair at a number of stadia, the minister revealed a software package is to be installed at all stadiums in the country which will determine when necessary repairs are needed.
Darryl Smith, second from left, chairman of the Sport Company Michael Phillip, third from left, and other officials visited the Dwight Yorke Stadium.
In 2010, the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) under then Secretary of Sport, Huey Cadette pumped $10 million into the relaying of the track with the understanding that central government would maintain the rapidly deteriorating infrastructure.
To put things into perspective, the DYS was one of four stadia built to facilitate the hosting of the under-17 Boys World Cup in 2001. All stadia fall under the remit of the Sport Company of Trinidad and Tobago. Effectively, the Central Government is in charge of maintenance, and the control of the stadium. However, given that the DYS is in Tobago, its situation, I submit, is different, and warrants intervention by the Tobago House of Assembly. Should the PNM run THA lobby the PNM run central government for ownership of the stadium? Without a doubt…Yes! My understanding is that the stadia were built under a Build Own Lease Transfer (BOLT) arrangement. This gave the contracting foreign firm ownership over a period of time which has since elapsed and the government is now fully in charge.
The athletic season is once again approaching – no use of the stadium. The football season is in full swing – no use of the stadium. Yet our counterparts in Trinidad are exposed to the best the country has to offer where facilities are concerned.
Over the course of its closure it was “temporarily” used to host a Legends football tournament. The Falcon Games only returned this year after many years in Trinidad due to the unavailability of the stadium. Zenith relays was also affected by the closure. The DYS is critical to Tobago’s sport development, and might I add, sport tourism. Can you imagine the spin-off from international events held at the stadium? Set to benefit will be hoteliers, taxi drivers, restaurants and many more indirect returns. The stadium was used to host the 2005 Carifta Track and Field Championships and the 2010 FIFA Under 17 Women’s World Cup.
The Tobago Football Association (TFA) is in need of funds which can be attained in some way from gate receipts at the stadium. Earlier this year, a national women’s training session was cancelled due to an unprepared playing area at the Training ground. The country has hosted several world cup qualifier matches but not one held in Tobago. A match was even played at the Ato Boldon stadium which has the same capacity as the DYS. Tobagonians had to dish out funds for airfare, ground transport, accommodation and ticket to watch the qualifiers in Trinidad.
In the same breath, a brand new sporting facility is being constructed in Diego Martin.
Yet “side by side we stand!” Where’s the equality? Tobago athletes have been disadvantaged for far too long. Yet still they produce on the world stage. Imagine what can happen with a simple thing as a stadium being fully operational. The Dwight Yorke Stadium shares the same goal as the Ministry of Sport which believes that “the individual is at the heart of our ambition… if we all show commitment, through participation and personal endeavour, we’ll help Trinidad and Tobago become the best it can be.”
Site Title 