Sports in T&T has been in the intensive care unit financially ever since, as is the case regionally.
Administrators continue to make public calls for assistance, bombard their respective government agencies for assistance and most of the times, they are still left out in the cold. The present minister of Sport in T&T Brent Sancho from early during his charge, sent out a clear message to all sporting associations that the Ministry of Sport or SPORTT can't fund everything that they would like to do. He said that he was willing to assist in whatever way he could to bring the sporting associations and Corporate T&T together in a bid to make things happen.
I want to say right off the bat that this was very good of the minister. What he did was to keep it real and not promise all sorts of things and not deliver. Probably this is why he has gotten so much favour with many of the sporting associations in this country, at least those that are not willing to play politics. Sancho's point to the sporting associations brings me to question as to whether or to what extent corporate T&T is holding to their corporate social responsibility (CSR). Some companies (I can name many without giving it much thought but I am not about that) fail miserably to honour that CSR.
What they have to understand is that the same constituents are the ones that keep their business afloat and for those foreign companies coming into and operating in T&T, they need to 'give back' to the people and what better way than through sport.
One of the leaders in CSR is Super Industrial Services Limited (SIS). The Couva-based construction company has gone beyond the call to assist in giving back through sport and they have made an impact on the national sporting front. They have invested heavily in the Red Steel for the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and more than just pumping money, they have incurred the further expense of getting young people and charitable homes involved with the players on the team. They have also invested in Central FC and have assisted in their community programmes as well, making sure that the benefits of giving financial assistance trickles down to the community. The Industrial cricket league and football league is another investment they have made, where they decided that due to the stressful work environment on the Point Lisas Industrial Estate, the employees from the many companies there, needed to take that time off for relaxation, so they brought the health aspect into it by doing it through sport. Central Sports cricket club has also benefitted tremendous in the past from SIS who decided to adopt not only sport clubs but the communities around them. They have hosted fun and family day in many areas in T&T and one of the most successful was staged at Patna Village in Diego Martin, an area where some like to suggest is a 'hotspot' for crime. So many can take the example from SIS who has decided to give back to the country through the meaningful vehicle which is sport. The governments across the region must continue to give tax incentives for businesses to invest in sport. Some economies cannot afford the luxury of that and as such their sporting associations and teams are suffering as a result. Let's look at Barbados where the owners of the CPL are threatening to move the Barbados Tridents to another country which is willing to find investors to come on board. These are very challenging days economically for Barbados and the government there has removed all tax incentives as they try to keep the economy afloat. This has trickled down to the Tridents and now the people of Barbados may well have to do without a T20 franchise because of this.
Corporate Barbados has to understand that there is value in the CPL for a country that is tourist driven. The games are normally sold out in Barbados and many foreigners come in to take them in. So although there are no tax incentives in place for investing in sport and in this particular case the CPL, they have to look at the bigger picture. Last year, 21,000 tourists came in for the CPL alone and from that a large share landed in Barbados. I made the point above to underscore the value of corporate citizens coming on to assist sports and by extension the people of a nation through the tremendous benefits that sport brings. Let's hope that many more come on board and take the example of people like SIS who have shown the way.sf