As a proud res­i­dent of Siparia and a for­mer two-time Olympic fi­nal­ist, I feel com­pelled to speak out on an is­sue that af­fects not on­ly our sport­ing com­mu­ni­ty but al­so the fu­ture of our young peo­ple, es­pe­cial­ly those in my com­mu­ni­ty.

The con­di­tion of the Siparia Mul­ti-Pur­pose Sport­ing Com­plex is heart­break­ing. The foot­ball fields, cy­cling track, and spec­ta­tor stands have all fall­en in­to a de­plorable state of dis­re­pair. At one point, a fig tree was ac­tu­al­ly grow­ing in the mid­dle of the foot­ball field in the Ir­win Park Sa­van­nah—a pow­er­ful sym­bol of just how ne­glect­ed this im­por­tant fa­cil­i­ty has be­come.

This com­plex was opened in Au­gust 2015, mark­ing a new era for sports fa­cil­i­ties in the area. It was es­tab­lished to pro­vide the young peo­ple of Siparia and sur­round­ing com­mu­ni­ties with a safe and in­spir­ing en­vi­ron­ment in which to dis­cov­er, de­vel­op, and show­case their sport­ing tal­ents. In­stead, many of our as­pir­ing ath­letes are left with­out a fa­cil­i­ty that re­flects their po­ten­tial or the val­ue we place on sport.

I have been re­li­ably in­formed that fund­ing was al­lo­cat­ed to the Siparia Bor­ough Coun­cil to up­grade and con­duct re­pairs of the com­plex. How­ev­er, I have al­so re­ceived fur­ther in­for­ma­tion sug­gest­ing that this fund­ing may have been with­drawn, with no rea­son giv­en as to why. If this in­for­ma­tion is ac­cu­rate, the peo­ple of Siparia de­serve a clear ex­pla­na­tion. Our com­mu­ni­ty should not be de­prived of a fa­cil­i­ty that has the pow­er to pos­i­tive­ly in­flu­ence count­less young lives.

This is not about pol­i­tics. It is about our youth, our ath­letes, and our com­mu­ni­ty. Sport teach­es dis­ci­pline, re­silience, team­work, and hope. When we ne­glect our sport­ing fa­cil­i­ties, we ne­glect the very op­por­tu­ni­ties that can help trans­form lives.

I re­spect­ful­ly call up­on the rel­e­vant au­thor­i­ties to pro­vide clar­i­ty on the sta­tus of the fund­ing and, more im­por­tant­ly, to take the nec­es­sary steps to re­store the Siparia Mul­ti-Pur­pose Sport­ing Com­plex to a stan­dard that our com­mu­ni­ty can once again be proud of.

Our young peo­ple de­serve bet­ter. Siparia de­serves bet­ter.

I en­cour­age every­one who cares about the fu­ture of sports in our com­mu­ni­ty to lend your voice to this cause. To­geth­er, we can ad­vo­cate for the fa­cil­i­ties our ath­letes need and de­serve.

Ian Mor­ris

For­mer two-time

Olympic Games fi­nal­ist

Res­i­dent of Siparia