Stop driving on the National Sports Council’s (NSC) playing fields!
That is the strong message from Director of the NSC, Erskine King, who said some motorists and motor cyclists were indiscriminately using a few of their grounds during the night, early morning, and even chancing the stunts in daylight.
"Some use the field to do all sorts of tricks with their vehicles and this destroys the grass… We even have one or two fields people use to race horses," Mr. King lamented.
He disclosed that the Council had put a system in place to prevent persons from driving on the fields, but some of them had gotten around it.
The Director pointed out that the Council was not in a position to "police" those playing fields "24/7", and noted that moral suasion was being used to stop the culprits.?? "We can only appeal to the good sense of people to assist us by keeping off the fields with that type of illegal activity. It then becomes costly to try to put the field back in pristine condition, particularly as we move towards a greater sports tourism thrust.
"If you are inviting people here to participate in sporting activities, you can’t invite them to use sub-standard facilities with a lot of tyre marks and so forth, that can be dangerous to them. It is sad that you constantly have to make an appeal for people to desist from doing these things," he complained.
Mr. King urged those living close to the problem fields, including Bridge Field, St. Thomas, and Blenheim, St. Michael, to "keep an eye out for any unusual activity" and give the Sports Council or the police the information, including the registration numbers of the vehicles, so action could be taken.
He called on Barbadians to see playing fields as part of their community. "We at the Sports Council are engaging in outreach programmes because we want people in the various communities to see the grounds as an extension of their own home, so they would protect the facilities and rid the country of this destructive behaviour," the Director said. saustin@barbados.gov.bb